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MRS. FITZHERBERT AND 
GEORGE IV 




-<i^i^i><myyti4.e^ yuum/^ih^a^ vu- L.-^a^iP-ynaJ c^a^t/nd^^o^-^^tMiAy 



MRS. FITZHERBERT 

AND 

GEORGE IV 



BY 

W. H. WILKINS, M.A., F.S.A. 



AUTHOR OF 



'THE LOVE OF AN UNCROWNED Q.UEEN, CAROLINE THE ILLUSTRIOUS QUEEN CONSORT OF 

GEORGE II.," 'a QUEEN OF TEARS" 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 



LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO, 

91 AND 93 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 
LONDON AND BOMBAY 

1905 

All rights reserved 



''-4 C'l)'''. 



3 






MOV B 6'^-J& 



Copyright, 1905 

BY 

LOJMGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 



Published November, 1905 



The Plimpton Press Norwood Mass U. S. A 



To 
THE LADY CONSTANCE LESLIE 

YOUNGEST DAUGHTER 

OF 

MRS. FITZHERBERT'S ADOPTED DAUGHTER 
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 



PREFACE 

The marriage of Mrs. Fitzherbert and George, 
Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV., is one of the 
romances of the later Georgian era. The extraordinary 
secrecy that surrounded the marriage, the fact that it was 
twice denied in the House of Commons, the persistence 
of the rumour that asserted its existence, the religious and 
constitutional questions involved by the secret marriage 
of the heir-apparent to the Throne with a Roman Catho- 
lic lady of good, but not of royal, birth, combine to make 
it one of the most interesting events in the history of the 
House of Hanover. 

Though references to Mrs. Fitzherbert, more or less 
correct, and more or less detailed, may be found in many 
letters, memoirs, and diaries of the period, there is a great 
lack of definite information concerning herself and her 
marriage with the Prince of Wales. Her personality A^as a 
very elusive one, and her dislike of publicity deepened the 
mystery which surrounded her throughout her long life. 
Yet it was her intention that her authorised biography 
should one day be written, and the truth of her marriage 
be told. To that end, in 1833, she reserved certain papers 
from destruction, and deposited them in Messrs Coutts's 
Bank; to that end also she dictated to Lord Stourton, her 
cousin and trustee, a short narrative of her life, to be pub- 
lished when he should think fit. Lord Stourton died 
without having completed the task ; for though, with Lord 
Albemarle, he was a trustee of Mrs. Fitzherbert' s papers 
at Coutts's Bank, the Duke of Wellington, who repre- 
sented the late king, George IV., refused him permission 



viii PREFACE 

to see them. P fore his death in 1846, Lord Stourton 
committed to his brother, the Hon. Charles Langdale, the 
duty which Mrs. Fitzherbert had laid upon him. Mr. 
Langdale, like his brother, Lord Stourton, failed, for 
reasons given in detail elsewhere,^ to obtain the papers 
at Coutts's Bank, which Mrs. Fitzherbert had placed 
there for the express purpose of vindicating her honour; 
but he published in 1856 a brief memoir, entitled "Me- 
moir of Mrs. Fitzherbert, with an account of her Marriage 
with H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, afterwards King 
George IV." This volume, incomplete though it is, is 
the only memoir of Mrs. Fitzherbert worthy of the name, 
and nearly all subsequent writers have drawn their infor- 
mation from this source alone. Only a limited number 
of copies of the book were printed ; Mr. Langdale refused 
to allow a second edition to appear, and it has long been 
out of print. 

Since 1856, numerous applications have been made by 
representatives of Mrs. Fitzherbert' s family, and others, 
to see the papers which she deposited at Coutts's Bank, 
but these applications have always been refused, as they 
were refused to Lord Stourton and to Mr. Langdale. 
How far these documents proved the disputed fact of her 
marriage to George, Prince of Wales, has therefore re- 
mained an open question. From time to time, memoirs 
have been published of famous personages who lived in 
the later Georgian era, and in these, with fev/ exceptions, 
the marriage of Mrs. Fitzherbert and of the Prince of 
Wales has been discussed; though the versions differed 
widely, the discussions have at least served to keep alive 
the interest in the subject. Moreover, Mrs. Fitzherbert 
was connected by birth and marriage with many of our 
old Roman Catholic families; among these, and indeed 
in all the great Roman Catholic families in the kingdom, 
the subject of her relations with George IV. is, and always 
had been, a matter of great interest. Though her mar- 

1 Vide Appendix A, " The Fitzherbert Papers." 



PREFACE ix 

riage was illegal, she was regarded by them as the canoni- 
cal wife of George IV.; and the refusal to publish the 
papers necessary to place her honour beyond doubt was 
regarded by many Roman Catholics as a slight on their 
religion, and by her family and friends as a slur on her 
memory. Moreover, the persistent refusal for seventy 
years to allow these papers to be published, has given rise 
to many false and improbable stories concerning their 
contents. 

Some three or four years ago, certain members of 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's family placed sundry papers in my 
hands for the purpose of writing her biography in a fuller 
and more connected manner than the memoir of Mr. 
Langdale. It was felt that the time had arrived for 
carrying out Mrs. Fitzherbert's wishes, and completing 
the task which Lord Stourton had failed to accomplish, 
and Mr. Langdale had only partly achieved. The dis- 
tance of time, and the fact that all the characters in the 
drama were long since dead, was thought to form a suffi- 
cient guarantee that no susceptibilities could be wounded 
by reviving the subject. The events of which I was to 
write — of which I have written — took place nearly a 
century ago, some of them more than a century; a whole 
generation, nearly two generations, had passed away, and 
neither George IV. nor Mrs. Fitzherbert left any descend- 
ants. The story of their marriage was therefore con- 
sidered to have passed into the domain of history, and 
become a subject for legitimate historical research. 

Notwithstanding the difficulty, due, for the most part, 
to the scanty material at my disposal, I accepted the task, 
for the subject has always interested me, and the Hano- 
verian period is one I have been working at for the last 
ten years. As I proceeded with the work, the difficulties 
grew less, for I received the kindest encouragement and 
assistance from the descendants of many of Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert's relatives and friends, who placed letters and 
pictures at my disposal and gave me all information in 



X PREFACE 

their power. But I felt from the first that no biography 
of Mrs. Fitzherbert would be worth the writing which did 
not prove beyond all doubt the fact of her marriage with 
George, Prince of Wales. I felt that the marriage could 
never be proved without reference to the papers which 
Mrs. Fitzherbert had placed at Coutts's Bank in 1833 
for that express purpose. These papers were still in 
existence, and, acting with the approval of the repre- 
sentatives of Mrs. Fitzherbert' s family and friends, I 
made an application to His Majesty to see them, at 
the same time submitting the peculiar circumstances of 
the case. . His Majesty was graciously pleased to grant 
my request, and I have been allowed to inspect the 
papers, and to publish in this book such of them, or 
such extracts from them, as seemed necessary for my 
purpose. 

Without these documents it would have been impossi- 
ble to vindicate completely Mrs. Fitzherbert's character. 
To His Majesty's generous permission is therefore due the 
fact that the honour and virtue of this much misunder- 
stood woman are now established beyond doubt, and her 
memory cleared from every shadow or stain. By his 
chivalrous action in this matter. His Majesty has won, in 
especial degree, the loyal gratitude of those Roman 
Catholic families (and they are many) with whom Mrs. 
Fitzherbert was allied by birth or by marriage, and in a 
wider sense the gratitude of all honourable men and 
women. In her lifetime a great wrong was done to her; 
now, nearly seventy years after her death, that wrong has 
been set right. 

I have called this book "Mrs. Fitzherbert and George 
IV." I have done so because it is impossible to write the 
life of Mrs. Fitzherbert without writing also of him with 
whom her life, for nearly half a century, was interwoven. 
The book is primarily a biography of Mrs. Fitzherbert 
("Maria Fitzherbert, wife of George IV.," as the "Dic- 
tionary of National Biography" calls her); it is not a 



PREFACE xi 

biography of George IV., except so far as his life, directly 
or indirectly, touches hers. But it touches hers so largely 
that I have felt justified in giving it the more compre- 
hensive title. I shall not be thought to belittle the work 
of many excellent writers, when I say that a dispassionate 
life of George IV., based upon his letters and papers (of 
which there exist a good many unpublished), has yet to 
be written. These documents alone would reveal the 
true man, his wayward moods, his abilities which were 
considerable, his eccentricities which were many — all 
there is to praise and all there is to blame in this prince, 
perhaps the most abused of English kings, and, like many 
another man, often abused unjustly. 

I have now only to express my indebtedness to those 
who have kindly helped me with this book. 

My humble thanks are first due to His Majesty the 
King, for permitting me to see, and to quote from, the 
Fitzherbert papers, formerly at Messrs. Coutts's Bank, 
now in the private archives of Windsor Castle. His 
Majesty has also graciously allowed me to publish certain 
letters to the Duke of Kent, the Duke of York, and other 
members of the Royal Family to Mrs. Fitzherbert, which 
will be found in this book. 

I have next to express my gratitude to Sir Walter 
Smythe, Bart., the present head of Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
family, without whose sanction this book would not have 
been written. I have also to thank Lady Smythe for the 
kind assistance she has rendered to me. 

My thanks are especially due to Lady Blanche Hay- 
garth and Lady Constance Leslie, the surviving daughters 
of the Hon. Mrs. George Dawson Damer (nee Seymour), 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's adopted daughter. These ladies have 
given me the greatest help by the loan of letters and 
pictures, and in many other ways. I have thanked them 
in detail elsewhere, but I should like to express my 
acknowledgments here as well. 

To Viscount Esher I owe a debt of gratitude for the 



xii PREFACE 

invaluable aid he rendered me with regard to certain 
documents quoted in this book. 

My thanks are due to Mr. Basil Fitzherbert, the present 
head of the Fitzherbert family, Mr. Charles Weld-Blun- 
dell, and to the late Mrs. William Langdale, daughter- 
in-law of the late Hon. Charles Langdale, cousin of 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, and author of her "Memoir." Messrs. 
Coutts also I thank for their courtesy. 

I also wish to convey my grateful thanks to the fol- 
lowing, who, in divers ways, specified elsewhere, have 
helped to make this book more complete, either by the 
loan of letters, pictures, or in other ways : — 

His Grace the Duke of Rutland, K.G. ; The Marquess of Zetland; 
The Earl of Albemarle; The Earl Manvers; The Dowager Countess 
Man vers; The Countess of Munster; The Earl of Munster; Coun- 
tess Fortescue; Viscount Halifax; The Lady Horatia Erskine; The 
Lady Catherine Milnes Gaskell; The Lady Dorothea Rycroft; The 
Hon. C. R. Spencer, M.P.; The Hon. Gerald Ponsonby; The Hon. 
Frederick Wallop; Major General Sir Arthur Ellis, K.C.V.O. ; Colonel 
Kenyon-Slaney, M.P.; The Rev. Canon Johnson, V.G. (of St. John 
the Baptist's Church, Brighton, where Mrs. Fitzherbert is buried); 
Dr. Chepmell; The Rev. A. C. Lowth, The Rev. M. Gavin, S.J.; 
Miss Mary Arthur; Mr. J. G. Bishop (the historian of the Brighton 
Pavilion); Mrs. Francis Blundell; Mr. W. B. Boulton; Miss SeHna 
Bridgeman; Mr. Joseph W. Brooks; Miss Dundas; Mr. S. M. Ellis 
Miss Gurwood; Mr. John Haines; Mr. John Harrington; Miss Lang 
Mr. WiUiam Saunders; Mr. Arthur G. Sanderson; Miss Thornhill 
Miss Thorold; and Mr. Towner. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

Birth and Parentage i 

CHAPTER II 

LULWORTH AND SWYNNERTON 9 

CHAPTER III 
Prince Charming ....... , . i8 

CHAPTER IV 
Flight ............ 33 

CHAPTER V 
Surrender . . -So 

CHAPTER VI 
The Marriage 67 

CHAPTER VII 
The Validity of the Marriage ....... 74 

CHAPTER VIII 
Perilous Honours . . . 92 

CHAPTER IX 
Carlton House and Brighton . . . . ■ . . . 106 

CHAPTER X 
Denial of the Marriage ........ 120 

CHAPTER XI 

Sheridan's Apology ......... 137 

xiii 



xiv CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XII 

PAGE 

A Queen of Hearts 150 

CHAPTER XIII 
The Struggle for the Regency ....... 161 

CHAPTER XIV 
Family Quarrels 180 

CHAPTER XV 
Sunshine and Shadow 195 * 

CHAPTER XVI 
The First Separation 210 

CHAPTER XVII 
The Prince's Will 228 

CHAPTER XVIII 
Reunion . . . 241 

CHAPTER XIX 
Happy Years 253 

CHAPTER XX 
The Prince's Pleasure-house 265 

CHAPTER XXI 
The Seymour Case ■. . 280 

CHAPTER XXII 
"The Delicate Investigation" 297 

CHAPTER XXIII 
The Final Separation 3" 

CHAPTER XXIV 
The Regency 328 

CHAPTER XXV 
The Trial of Queen Caroline . 343 



CONTENTS XV 

CHAPTER XXVI 

PAGE 

The Lady Steward ......,,. 353 

CHAPTER XXVII 

In the Grey of Life . . . . . . . . . 367 

CHAPTER XXVIII 
The Death of the King . 380 

CHAPTER XXIX 
The Miniature . . . . ... , . . . 391 

CHAPTER XXX 
The Reform Bill .......... 407 

CHAPTER XXXI 
The Burning of the Letters . . . . . „ .418 



Rest 



In Memoriam 



CHAPTER XXXII 



CHAPTER XXXIII 



431 



439 



APPENDICES 

APPENDIX A 
The Fitzherbert Papers ........ 444 

APPENDIX B 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's Will 452 

APPENDIX C 
Some Fitzherbert Relics ........ 459 

APPENDIX D 
An Appreciation of Mrs. Fitzherbert ..... 462 

APPENDIX E 
List of Authorities ......00. 464 

Index ...... o..,. . 467 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Mrs. Fitzherbert Frontispiece 

(From the painting by Thomas Gainsborough, by permission 
of A. G. Sanderson, Esq.) 

Walter Smythe, "Esq. (Mrs. Fitzherbert's father), in the 

uniform of an officer in the Austrian Army . . To face page 2 

(From a Painting at Acton Burnell, by permission oj Sir Walter 
Smythe, Bart.) 

ToNG Castle, Shropshire, stated to be Mrs. Fitzherbert's 

birthplace ........ " 6 

{From a Photo by Miss Selina Bridgeman) 

Hatton Hill Farm, Shifnal, Shropshire (alleged to have 

been Mrs. Fitzherbert's birthplace) .... " 8 

{From a Photo by Miss Selina Bridgeman) 

Acton Burnell Park, Shropshire, the seat of Sir Walter 

Smythe, Bart. (Mrs. Fitzherbert's ancestral home) . " .10 

Mrs. Weld, afterwards Mrs. Fitzherbert ... " 12 

{From a Miniature by George Cosway, R.A., by permission of 
A. G. Sanderson, Esq.) 

Marble Hill from the River (where Mrs. Fitzherbert 

was living when she first met the Prince of Wales) . " 16 

Kew Palace, where George, Prince of Wales, was born . " 22 

Carlton House, facing Pall Mall ..... " ' 22 

George, Prince of Wales ...... " 28 

{From the Painting by Thomas Gainsborough at Aske, by per- 
mission of the Marquess op Zetland) 

Aix-la-Chapelle, whither Mrs. Fitzherbert fled in 1784 . " 34 

George, Prince of Wales, as "Florizel" ... " 50 

{After the Painting by George Cosway, R.A.) 

Mrs. Fitzherbert ....... " 60 

{After the Painting by George Cosway, R.A.) 



xviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

George, Prince of Wales, and Mrs. Fitzherbert . To face page 68 

{Ajier Miniatures by George Cosway, R.A., now in possession 
of the Earl of Portarlington. From a Photograph by Miss 
Hicks-Beach) 

The Duchess of Gloucester {nee Walpole) . . = " 74 

The Duchess of Cumberland {nee Luttrell) ... " 80 

{After the Painting by George Cosway, R.A.) 

Mrs. Fitzherbert ....... " 98 ~ 

{From the Painting by John Russell, R.A., at Swynnerton. By 
permission oj Basil Fitzherbert, Esq.) 

The Pavilion, Brighton, in 1778 . . . . " " 116 

{From an old Print) 

Charles James Fox ....... " 130 

Richard Brinsley Sheridan ..... " 142 

{After the Painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds) 

Martha Gunn, the Brighton Bathing-woman ... " 150 

Weltje, the Prince's Cook and Major-domo ... " 150 

Frederick, Duke of York and Bishop of Osnabrtjck . " 156 

Mrs. Fitzherbert ....... " 170 

{After an unfinished Painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, by per-, 
mission of Lady Blanche Haygarth) 

George III " 180 

Queen Charlotte ....... " 180 

Watch given to Mrs. Fitzherbert by the Prince of 

Wales (blue enamel set with pearls) ... " 196 

{By permission of Mr. John Haines) 

The Duke of Sussex " 206 

The Princess Elizabeth, daughter of George III., Land- 
gravine of Hesse-Homburg ..... " 306 

The Princess Caroline of Brunswick ... " 222 

{From a Picture in the Palace at Brunswick) 

Mrs. Fitzherbert ....... " 234 

{From a Painting by George Cosway, R.A., by permission of 
Lady Blanche Haygarth) 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Mrs. Fitzherbert ....... 

(From the Painting by George Romney in the possession of 
Earl Manvers) 

Mrs. Fitzherbert' s House in Tilney Street (as seen 
from Park Lane) ...... 

The Duke of Kent ...... 

A View or the Steine, Brighton, temp. 1815, showing 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's house .... 

The Pavilion, Brighton, circa 1818 . 

Lady Horatia Seymour ..... 

(After a Miniature by George Cosway, R.A., by permission of 
Lady Constance Leslie) 

The Princess Augusta, daughter of George in. . 

(After the Painting by Sir William Beechey, R.A.) 

Facsimile of a Letter written by Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
showing her signature ...... 

Facsimile of a Letter written by Mrs. Fitzherbert 
TO THE Prince of Wales shortly before their 
FINAL Separation ...... 

(i) Ivory Fan given by the Prince of Wales to Mrs. 
Fitzherbert ....... 

(2) Satchel embroidered by Mrs. Fitzherbert at the 
Age of Seventy-Five . . . . 

(By permission of Mr. John Harris) 

George IV. at the Time he Ascended the Throne . 

Queen Caroline, Consort of George IV. 

The Coronation of George IV. ..... 

(From an old Print) 



The Hon. Mrs. Dawson Damer, Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
adopted daughter ....... 

(From the Miniature by Isabey. Photo by Mr. W. B. Boulton. 
By permission of Lady Constance Leslie) 

The Chain Pier, Brighton, ciVca 1825 . . . . 

(From a Drawing in the possession of Mr. John Haines) 

* 

George IV. driving at Windsor ..... 

(From an old Print') 



To face page 240 

246 
256 

266 

276 

" 284 

" 302 

" 310 

Between 315-316 

To face page 322 

322 

342 
348 • 
35° 

362 

374 
382 



XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Statue of George IV. at Brighton , . .To face page 390 
(By Sir Francis Chantrey) 

Locket containing Miniature of George, Prince of 
Wales (companion of the locket given by the Prince 
to Mrs. Fitzherbert soon after their marriage, con- 
taining her miniature, which is buried with the King 
at Windsor. This is the exact size of the original) . " 394 

(^By permission of Countess Fortescue) 

The Duke of Wellington's Letter to Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert ........ Between 396-397 

William IV. ........ To face page 410 

William IV. attending Divine Service in the Chapel 
Royal, Brighton. (The other Royal Personages 
present are Queen Adelaide, Princess Augusta, and 
Prince George of Cambridge) .... " 426 

Mrs. Fitzherbert, cetat. 80 . . . . . . " 436 

{From a Painting in Water -Colours, by permission of Lady 
Blanche Haygarth) 

St. John the Baptist's Church, Brighton, where Mrs. 
Fitzherbert is buried. (The cross marks the site of 
her grave) ........ "■ 440 

The Memorial to Mrs. Fitzherbert in St. John the 

Baptist's Church, Brighton .... '• 442 

Mrs. Fitzherbert's House at Brighton (as it is to-day). " 460 



MRS. FITZHERBERT AND 
GEORGE IV 



CHAPTER I 

BIRTH AND PARENTAGE 

(1756-1775) 

Maria Fitzherbert was bom on July 26, 1756, in the latter 
part of the reign of George II. She was the eldest child of 
Walter Smythe, second son of Sir John Smythe, Baronet, of 
Eshe Hall, Durham, and of Acton Burnell Park, Shropshire, 
by his marriage with Mary, the daughter of John Errington of 
Red Rice, Andover, Hampshire. 

The Smythes are an old Roman Cathohc family, originally 
haihng from the north of England. Sir Edward Smythe, the 
first baronet, owed his baronetcy to Charles II., who conferred 
it upon him after the Restoration in recognition of the services 
he had rendered to the royal cause during the great rebellion. 
The civil war had seriously impoverished the family fortunes, 
but Sir Edward Smythe repaired them by marrying Mary, 
daughter and coheiress of Sir Richard Lee, Baronet, of Langley 
and Acton Burnell. By this alHance the Shropshire estates came 
into possession of the Smythes, and Acton Burnell became, and 
has remained until this day, the principal seat of the family. 
The mansion is a handsome building of white stone, surrounded 
by a finely timbered deer park, and commanding a view of the 
distant Wrekin. Acton Burnell has historical associations. In 
the park are the ruins of an ancient castle, and near it are the 
remains of an immense tithe-barn. Here Edward I. held his 
parhament in 1283, when the celebrated statute of Acton Burnell 
was passed; the nobles assembled in the castle, and the Com- 



2 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

mons sat in the barn. In the old parish church hard by are 
many monuments of the Smythe family. There is a Roman 
CathoHc chapel in the mansion originally built for a company 
of Benedictine monks who fled from France at the time of the 
Revolution, and were sheltered at Acton Burnell. One of the 
most interesting legends of Acton Burnell is that here was laid 
the scene of the introductory chapter of "John Inglesant." 
The place is steeped in the traditions of those who have held 
fast to the old faith. 

Belonging to the great cousinhood of the old Roman Catholic 
families in England, the Smythes have allied themselves before 
and since Mrs. Fitzherbert's day with many illustrious houses 
of the same rehgion, such as the Arundells of Wardour, the 
Stourtons, the Staffords, the Stonors, the Jerninghams, the 
Cliffords, the Welds, the Blounts, the Fitzherberts, the Erring- 
tons, the Herberts, and many others too numerous to be men- 
tioned here. The Smythes have always been distinguished for 
their fine sense of patriotism and loyalty. The family motto is 
Regi semper fidelis, and the beautiful daughter of their house, 
whose story will be told in this book, certainly acted upon it. 
None was more faithful to her king than she; none suffered 
more for that fidelity. 

Mr. Walter Smythe, Mrs. Fitzherbert's father, was a younger 
son, and received only a younger son's portion of the family 
fortune. It was difficult for him to supplement it, for, in con- 
sequence of the penal laws then existing against Roman Catho- 
lics, every career, at that time considered suitable for a youth 
of his birth and breeding, was closed to him. His desire was 
to serve his country in the profession of arms, but he was 
inehgible for either the army or the navy. . He therefore followed 
the example of many other young EngHshmen, sons of Roman 
Cathohc nobihty and gentry, and accepted a commission in the 
Austrian army. There is a picture of him at Acton Burnell in 
an Austrian uniform of green and scarlet, a handsome, sol- 
dierly-looking man, with flashing eyes and the aquihne nose 
characteristic of his race. 

Walter Smythe entered the service of the Emperor of Austria 
shortly before the Jacobite rising of 1745. It was perhaps well 
for him that he was out of England at that time, for the Smythes, 
like all Roman CathoHcs, harassed by unjust laws, sympathised 




WALTER SMYTHE, Esq. 

Mrs. Fitzhekbert's Father 

In the Uniform of an Officer in the Austrian Army 

{From a Painting at Acton Burnell, iy permission of Sir Walter Smythe, Bart.) 



BIRTH AND PARENTAGE 3 

with the cause of the Stuarts. Few English Roman Cathohcs 
were directly concerned in the rising, but when Charles Edward 
came south of the Border many of the younger Cathohc nobility 
and gentry were ready to flock to his standard. Some did so 
and were involved in his ruin. 

Walter Smythe did not come back to England until some 
years after the battle of CuUoden had extinguished the hopes of 
the Stuarts. By then the great bulk of the English Roman 
Cathohcs had come to acquiesce hopelessly in the estabhshment 
of the Hanoverian dynasty, though for some the White Rose 
still retained its fragrance. Shortly after Walter Smythe's re- 
turn he married, in 1755, Mary, daughter of Mr. John Errington, 
a cadet of the ancient Northumberland family of that name, 
with whom the Smythes of county Durham were remotely con- 
nected. Mary Errington had great beauty, and a moderate 
fortune — in those days a not inconsiderable dower. They 
were married (according to tradition, for there exists no record 
of the marriage) at Acton Burnell, where Walter's elder brother. 
Sir Edward Smythe, was then the reigning baronet. For the 
first few months of their married life they appear to have re- 
sided at Acton Burnell, and then they moved to Tong Castle, in 
the same county. Tong, an ancient castle dating back in legend 
to Saxon times, had passed into the possession of the last Duke 
of Kingston, who seldom resided there, and was then wishing to 
sell it. The Duke probably lent Tong to Walter Smythe for a 
time; it is possible that he appointed him, as a neighbour, to 
look after the management of the estate ; it is certain that Smythe 
and his wife were residing at the castle in 1756. According to 
one authority, and agreeably also to family tradition, it was 
here that their eldest child, who in after years became celebrated 
as Mrs. Fitzherbert, was born, on July 26, 1756. It is impos- 
sible, however, to speak with certainty on this point; for there 
exists no public register of her birth owing to the fact that she 
was the child of Roman Catholic parents, and born previous 
to any measure of relief. Family registers were often kept 
(in Mrs. Fitzherbert's case even they were wanting), and 
wealthy parents used to have medals struck in commemoration 
of the birth of their children. Neither does there exist any 
record of her baptism. The priests in charge of the chief 
Roman Catholic missions had private registers, but these were 



4 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

not kept in the chapels.^ According to the genealogical chart 
of the Smythe family, the child was christened Mary Anne, and 
she is thus denominated in the family tree at Acton Burnell, but 
Mrs. Fitzherbert signed herself "Maria," and under that name 
she was always known. 

The only written authority in support of Mrs. Fitzherbert 
having been born at Tong is to be found in a book on the 
castle ^ wherein the author says : — 

"Mr. H.- F. Vaughan writes to me (November 17, 1884): 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, the wife of George IV., was born in the 'Red 
Room' at Tong Castle, having arrived somewhat unexpectedly 
during a visit of her parents at Tong, as I was informed by the 
late Madame Durant, with whose family my own was intimate." 
This Madame Durant, nee Lafeve, was the daughter-in-law of 
the George Durant who purchased Tong Castle from the Duke 
of Kingston in 1762,^ so that the testimony is fairly direct. It 
would be in the fitness of things also if Mrs. Fitzherbert were 
born at Tong, for many famous women have been connected 
with the ancient castle, but none, it may be safely said, more 
celebrated than she. Tong is associated with Lady Mary 
Wortley Montagu, whose father, Evelyn, Duke of Kingston, 
owned it; with Venetia, Lady Digby, whose beauty formed the 
theme of Ben Jonson's "Eupheme," and with the witty and 
scandalous Elizabeth Chudleigh, Duchess of Kingston. 

There exists, however, a local tradition to the effect that 
Mrs. Fitzherbert was not born at Tong Castle, but at a farm- 
house in the neighbouring village of Shifnal. Mr. and Mrs. 
Smythe, so the legend runs, were residing at Tong Castle in 
1756, but as the time drew near for the lady's first confinement, 
her husband determined to take her to London for the event. 
They appear to have delayed their departure too long. They 
started from Tong one fine morning in July, on their journey 

1 For instance, at the beginning of the baptismal register kept at the Roman 
Cathohc Church of the Holy Apostle, Norwich, there is written on the fly-leaf 
as follows: "A Register of Baptisms copied from Mr. Angler's, beginning from 
September 1775, no one being kept before by reason of the penal laws." 

2 "A History of Tong and Boscobel," by George Griffiths, 1894. 

3 Mr. George Durant "improved" the castle built by Sir Henry Vernon in 
1500 on the site of an older one, by re-facing it with a mixed Moorish and 
Gothic exterior. The ownership of the Durants lasted nearly a century. In 
1855 Tong Castle was sold to the Earl of Bradford. 



BIRTH AND PARENTAGE 5 

to London, and were driving in the family coach along the old 
posting road, when Mrs. Smythe was suddenly taken ill. As 
it was impossible to proceed on their journey, they took refuge 
in a farmhouse near by. In this modest dwelling, a few hours 
later, on July 26, 1756, Maria Fitzherbert was born.^ It is an 
old red brick house, known as Hatton Hill Farm, in the parish 
of Shifnal, and is still standing. It appears to have been re- 
faced and to have had new windows put in, but otherwise it 
looks much the same as it might have done a hundred and 
fifty years ago. 

Shortly after the birth of their eldest child, Mr. and Mrs. 
Smythe left Shropshire and bought an estate at Brambridge, 
near Winchester, which became their permanent home. Their 
reason for settling in Hampshire was doubtless because Mr. 
Errington, Mrs. Smythe's brother, lived not far off, at Red 
Rice, in the same county. The house at Brambridge was a 
comfortable, roomy mansion without any pretension, the sort 
of house that a country squire of moderate means might occupy. 
It dated from Charles II. 's reign, and was approached by a 
double avenue of limes.^ At Brambridge in the succeeding 
years Mrs. Smythe gave birth to her other children, four sons 
and a daughter,^ and some of their descendants lived there 
until a comparatively recent date. The Smythes were firmly 
attached to their religion, and one of their first acts at Bram- 
bridge was to fit up a room in a house in the village as a chapel, 
where a priest occasionally celebrated Mass. Later, when the 
Relief Acts made it possible, they established a Roman Catholic 
mission in the district,^ and in after years their elder daughter, 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, then a widow in afiluent circumstances, 
endowed it. 

There is very Httle to record of Maria Smythe's girlhood. 
She grew up under the ban laid upon her religion. The Roman 
Catholic famihes of that day lived very much to themselves; 

1 1 am indebted for this anecdote to Colonel Kenyon Slaney, M.P., of Hatton 
Grange, Shifnal, Shropshire. He was told it by his great-aunt Mrs. Holmes, 
who was a Miss Harriet Slaney, and who died in 1893 at the age of ninety. 

2 A fire in 1872 burnt the old house to the ground. It has since been rebuilt: 
the avenue of limes still stands. 

^ See note 3 on following page. 

^ The priest's house in the village has now been converted into a nursery- 
man's. In one of the rooms of the house may be seen traces of the chapel. 



6 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

they were regarded with dishke and suspicion by many of their 
neighbours, even those of education and equal birth, and were 
largely cut off from social intercourse. Deprived of their civil 
rights, treated as ahens and suspects in the land of their birth, 
they were forced to practise their rehgion almost by stealth. 
Their priests in England lived in fear, and the doors of the 
chapels were bolted before Mass began to keep out spies, for 
the Act of WilHam and Mary, "An Act for the further preven- 
tion of the growth of Popery," was still unrepealed.^ Under 
these circumstances it is no wonder that many Roman Catholics 
left England, while those that remained and held fast to their 
faith became, to quote the words of a dispassionate writer, 
"virtually outlaws in their own country, doomed to a life of 
secrecy and retirement." ^ We may be pardoned for dwelling 
on this state of affairs, for Mrs. Fitzherbert's childhood and 



1 So late as 1767 (eleven years after Mrs. Fitzherbert's birth) a priest was 
convicted and condemned under its provisions. 

2 "A History of England in the Eighteenth Century," by W. E. Lecky. 

3 Short Pedigree of Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
Sir John Smythe = Const antia, dau. of 



(3rd Bart.), 
d. 1737- 



George Blount, 

Esq., sister of Sir 

Edward Blount 

(4th Bart.). 



Sir Edward Smythe (4th Bart.), b. 1719, 

m. (i) Maria, dau. of Peter Giffard, Esq. 

(2) Mary, dau. of Hugh, 4th Lord Clifford, 

d. 1784, having issue, from whom the present 

head of the family, Sir (John) Walter Smythe, 

8th Bart., descends. 



I 

Walter, 

m. Mary, 

dau. of John 

Errington, Esq., 



CONSTANTIA, m. 

Marmaduke, 5th Baron 

Langdale, and had one 

daughter Mary, who 

married the i6th 

Lord Stourton. 



Mary Anne 
or Maria, 

b. July 26, 
1756, 
m. (i) 1775, 
Edward Weld, 
Esq. of 
Lulworth. 
(2) 1778, 
Thomas Fitz- 
herbert, Esq. of 

Swynnerton. 

(3) Dec. IS, 1785, 

George, Prince 

of Wales 

(afterwards 

George IV.), 

d. Mar. 29, 

1837. 



Walter, 

b- 1757, 

m. 1807, 

Louisa, dau. 

of Thomas 

Boycott, Esq., 

d. 1822, leaving 

two daus. 

(i) Louisa 

Mary, m. 

Sir Frederick 

Hervey 

Bathurst, Bart. 

(2) Charlotte 

Georgiana 

Harriett, m. 

the Hon. 

George 

Augustus 

Craven. 



John, 
m. widow of 

Captain 
Strickland. 
He had a 
daughter 
Marianne 
(afterwards 
adopted by 
Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert), who 
married the 
Hon. Edward 

Stafford 

Jerningham, 

and son of 

George 

William Lord 

Stafford. 



Charles 
(of whom 
nothing is 
known). 



Henry 
(of whom 
nothing is 
known). 



I 

Frances, 

m. 

Sir Carnaby 

Haggerston, 

Sth Bart., 

d. 1836, 

having issue 

one daughter 

Mary, who 

married 

Sir Thomas 

Stanley, 

pth Bart. 




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BIRTH AND PARENTAGE 7 

youth were passed before any measure of Roman Catholic 
reHef was carried. The injustice of the penal laws made a deep 
impression on her, and so far from weakening her in her rehgion 
(as it did many) only confirmed her in her attachment to it. 

In accordance with the custom of many of the English 
CathoHc famihes in the eighteenth century, Maria Smythe was 
sent to Paris to be educated at the English Convent in the 
Faubourg St. Antoine, kept by Conceptionist nuns, known as 
the "Blew Nuns." For half a century this convent was the 
best and most select school for the daughters of EngHsh Roman 
Cathohcs. 

One anecdote only has come to us out of the obscurity of 
her girlhood in Paris. On one of her holidays she was taken 
by her parents to Versailles, where they saw Louis XV. dine in 
public. (People were admitted by ticket, and stood behind a 
barrier to watch the monarch dine alone in state.) During the 
repast the French King pulled a chicken to pieces with his 
fingers. This so amused the httle Enghsh girl that, regardless 
of the rule that no one should break the silence, she burst into 
a peal of laughter. The breach of etiquette might have led 
to her summary ejection, but Louis XV. took it very good- 
naturedly, and sent the pretty fair-haired child a dish of sugar 
plums by one of his attendant nobles, the Duke of Soubise. In 
after years when Mrs. Fitzherbert was an honoured guest at 
the French court, the Duke, then an old man, reminded her of 
the incident, and told her he was the bearer of the gift. 

In relating this incident in her old age to Lord Stourton, 
Mrs. Fitzherbert said "that attentions from Royalty, as if to 
prognosticate her future destiny, commenced with her at a very 
early age." She added sadly that it was "rather a curious 
coincidence in her connection with Royalty that the last dregs 
of bitterness were presented to her from a Royal table connected 
with the French sovereign Louis XVIII." ^ 

When her education with the "Blew Nuns" was completed, 
Maria Smythe returned to England. The influence of her 

1 "Memoirs of Mrs. Fitzherbert, with an account of her marriage with 
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, afterward King George IV.," by the Hon. Charles 
Langdale. London, 1856. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert referred to the great fete at Carlton House in 181 1, given 
by the Prince Regent to the exiled Royal Family of France, when no place was 
allotted her at the Royal table. 



8 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

education in Paris was very marked in her after life. She 
loved France, and often visited Paris, where she had many 
friends; she spoke and wrote French fluently, and there was 
something in her temperament — her impulsiveness, her vivacity 
and love of amusement — which was more akin to the French 
character than the English. 

The next few years of Maria Smythe's life were passed in 
her father's home at Brambridge, broken only by visits to some 
of her relatives. No girl was brought up in greater ignorance 
of the world, or led a more secluded Hfe, yet, before long, "the 
beautiful Miss Smythe" began to be talked about in the quiet 
Catholic world. She was then in the first blush of her loveliness. 
Her abundant hair, which she wore naturally, in defiance of the 
fashion of the day, was of a pale gold, her eyes hazel-brown, 
her complexion that of the wild rose and hawthorn, her features 
exquisitely chiselled, her figure full of grace. Even more attrac- 
tive than her beauty was her sunny disposition, her vivacity, 
her natural unaffected manner, which arose from absence of 
guile and kindness of heart, and an indefinable charm which 
clung to her through life. 




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CHAPTER II 

LULWORTH AND SWYNNERTON 

(1775-1784) 

The beautiful Miss Smythe was not long left without suitors. 
In her eighteenth year, at her uncle's, Mr. Errington's, house, 
Red Rice, near Andover, she met Mr. Edward Weld of Lul- 
worth Castle, Dorsetshire. Mr. Weld was a widower of forty- 
four years of age: his first wife, a daughter of Lord Petre, had 
died a few years before, leaving him without children. He 
straightway fell in love with Miss Smythe, and made her an 
offer of marriage. The master of Lul worth, head of one of the 
most ancient Roman Catholic famihes of England, and owner 
of many broad acres, was a great match for Maria Smythe, who 
had no dower but her beauty. She accepted him without demur, 
or rather he was accepted for her by her parents, for in those 
days marriages were arranged much on the French system. 
There is nothing to show that her duty and incHnation did not 
go together, though her husband was twenty-six years older 
than herself and in dehcate health. They were married early 
in 1775, when she was eighteen, and took up their residence at 
Lulworth Castle. 

Very httle comes to us out of the past concerning Mrs. 
Weld's brief reign at princely Lulworth, and few are the tradi- 
tions of her hfe there. In one of the rooms of the castle there 
is a curious picture showing Edward Weld and his two wives 
on one canvas. Mr. Weld had been painted with his first wife, 
Juliana, and after his second marriage, there being room on 
the left side of the picture, he caused his second wife, Maria, 
to be painted in the vacant space. There he stands between 
his two wives, a doubtful comphment, one would think, to 
number two. But Mr. Weld was fond and proud of his beau- 
tiful second wife; there is another picture of her at Lulworth 
painted immediately after her marriage, probably by Gains- 

9 



lo MRS. FITZHERBERT 

borough. I am indebted to Mr. Charles Weld Blundell for the 
following account of it : — 

"It is unfinished as to her marvellous aureole of hair, which 
she persisted in wearing au naturel, when all wore wigs and 
other hideous erections. She is petillante d'esprit, and would 
convince the most incredulous of her early beauty and originality. 
I have heard it said by my great-uncle Weld ^ that, when being 
painted for this portrait, she was so indignant the first sitting 
at the artist's outUne of her fuzzy head, filled in with grey 
impaste, that she jumped up saying, 'Why, the man has given 
me a grey wig,' and bounced out of the room, vowing that 
nothing would induce her to sit any more to him. There is no 
trace in it of the aquiline nose which she developed later." 

Miss Mary Frampton, of Moreton, whose parents lived near 
Lulworth, writes in her journal of Mrs. Weld at that time: 
"She was then (1775) very beautiful. She dined at Moreton 
on the day she was nineteen — perfectly unaffected and un- 
assuming in manner, as I heard from my mother at that time, 
and as I have myself since seen." ^ 

Mrs. Weld was not long at Lulworth; she lost her husband 
the first year of their marriage. Mr. Edward Weld died in 
1775 after a brief illness without having made special provision 
for his widow. Many years later Mrs. Weld (then Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert) told her adopted daughter, Mrs. Dawson Damer,^ that 
"she had always been a most unlucky woman," and as an 
illustration of the truth of her saying, she referred to the circum- 
stances of the death of her first husband. He had drafted a 
will, she said, leaving her everything in his power. He read it 
over to her in the library one morning, and was about to sign 
it and call witnesses, when she prevented him, saying, "Oh, do 
that later. It is such a lovely day, let us go for a ride." He 
yielded to her persuasion. During the ride Mr. Weld's horse 
stumbled and fell, bringing his rider down with him. Under 
ordinary circumstances the accident would not have been 
serious, for Mr. Weld was apparently uninjured. But it proved 
such a shock to his enfeebled constitution, that it hastened his 

1 Mr. Joseph Weld of Lulworth, who died 1863. 

2 "The Journal of Mary Frampton," 1885. 

3 Mary, a daughter of Lord Hugh and Lady Horatia Seymour, who married 
the Hon. George Lionel Dawson Damer, second son of the first Earl of Portar- 
lington. 




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LULWORTH AND SWYNNERTON ii 

death. On returning home he took to his bed, and never 
ralHed. He died a few weeks later, leaving his will unsigned. 
As there were no children, he was succeeded in the estates by 
his only surviving brother, Mr. Thomas Weld,^ who made 
provision for his brother's widow, but on a different basis to the 
bounteous one in the unsigned will. Mr. Thomas Weld was 
not at Lul worth at the time of his brother's death, and as means 
of communication were slow, the young widow was left in the 
house for some days absolutely alone. But she had kind 
neighbours. "My father and mother," writes Mary Frampton, 
"knowing that Mrs. Weld was so young and without any friends 
with her, sent to offer her to remove to Moreton, or to give her 
any comfort or assistance in their power. This friendly conduct 
was on her side always repaid with great civility and attention."^ 
Of the three years of Mrs. Weld's widowhood, very little is 
known. She left Lulworth almost immediately after her hus- 
band's funeral. There is a tradition at Brambridge that she 
at one time lived in a cottage in the adjacent village of Golden 
Common.^ It is possible that she went there in the early days 
of her widowhood to be near her parents. The cottage would 
be more in keeping with her means at that period of her Hfe 
than at any other, for, in after years, she was too affluent to 

1 Short Pedigree of the Weld Family. 

Edward Weld (of Lulworth), b. 1731, (^. 1775. 

m. (i) 1763, Juliana, dau. of Robert Lord Petre. 

(2) 1775, Mary Anne, dau. of Walter Smythe, Esq. 

Was succeeded by his brother Thomas Weld, d. 1810. 

Who was succeeded by his son Thomas (afterward Cardinal) Weld, 
d. 1837. 

Who was succeeded by his brother Joseph Weld, d. 1863. 

Who was succeeded by his son Edward Joseph Weld, d. 1877. 

Who was succeeded by his son Reginald Joseph Weld, the present 
head of the family. 

^ Frampton, op. cit. 

3 Concerning this the Rev. P. H. Owen (sometime vicar of Colden Common) 
writes, 1903: "The cottage still exists. It is one of the old commoner's cottages 
and stands in a hollow. I remember seeing some china article given by Mrs. 
Fitzherbert to the owner of the cottage. The late Mrs. Monro, widow of a 
former vicar of Colden Common, had in her possession a shawl belonging to 
Mrs. Fitzherbert which she (Mrs. Monro) had received from the occupant of 
the cottage in question. 



12 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

need so humble a residence. We jEind her also in London. 
Lady Jerningham mentions having met her there when she 
was the "Widow Weld." ^ 

About this time a misfortune befell the Smythe family in 
the serious illness of their father, Mr. Walter Smythe, who was 
seized with paralysis, and remained a complete invahd until 
his death, which took place some years later.^ It was a mis- 
fortune in more ways than one, for his four sons, handsome, 
high-spirited lads, were growing up to manhood, and were thus 
deprived of a father's guidance just when it was most needed. 
As these youths were Roman Catholics, they were subject to 
the same disabihties as those which had prevented their father 
from making a career for himself; the penal laws excluded them 
from the bar, from the army, the navy, and from every place 
of trust or profit under the government. One of them event- 
ually followed his father's example and entered the Austrian 
army, but all of them, during the most impressionable years of 
their Hves, were allowed to run wild. Mrs. Weld was devoted 
to her brothers and did all she could to help them, but at this 
time she was not able to do much, and when she had the power 
it was too late, for the years of idleness had done their work. 
Their paternal uncle. Sir Edward Smythe, did Httle for them, 
and it was to Mr. Henry Errington, their maternal uncle, that 
they looked for help and guidance. Mr. Errington was a 
wealthy man, and he gave both with ungrudging hand. When 
Mr. Smythe was incapacitated by illness, Mr Errington came 
to be regarded by all his sister's children (Mrs. Weld included) 
in the hght of a guardian. He was generous and kind-hearted, 
a hon viveur and a man of tolerant mind, whose Catholicism sat 
lightly on him. But he was not, as events proved, a very wise 
one. 

The young widow was too beautiful and attractive to remain 
long without offers of marriage. She refused several suitors, 
but in 1778, three years after the death of her first husband, 
she married Mr. Thomas Fitzherbert of Swynnerton in Stafford- 
shire and of Norbury in Derbyshire. Her second marriage 
was no less advantageous in a worldly sense than her first had 
been; it gave her the same position of dignity and continued 

»"The Jerningham Letters" (1780-1843), edited by Egerton Castle, 1890. 
2 He died January 14, 1788. His widow survived him many years. 




MRS. WELD 

Afterwards Mrs. Fitzherbert 

{From a Mi?iiaiure by George Cosway, R. A. , by permissio7i of 
A. G. Sanderson, Esq.) 



LULWORTH AND SWYNNERTON 13 

her amid the same gracious surroundings as those she had 
enjoyed at Lulworth. Like the Welds, the Fitzherberts were 
Roman Cathohcs; hke them, they were an ancient and wealthy 
family, belonging to what has been termed the "untitled nobility 
of England." The Welds were of Saxon origin, the Fitzherberts 
descended from a Norman knight whose name appears on the 
roll of Battle Abbey. Mrs. Fitzherbert's second marriage was 
a happy one. There was not the same disparity of age between 
herself and her second husband as there had been in the case 
of her first marriage — Mr. Fitzherbert was only ten years her 
senior. But the second union, hke the first, was unblessed with 
children. Mr. Weld had been something of a recluse; Mr. 
Fitzherbert was, for a Roman Cathohc squire of those days, 
very much a man of the world. The Fitzherberts were very 
hospitable and popular and entertained largely at Swynnerton; 
their guests were chiefly of their own faith, though Mr. Fitz- 
herbert hved on excellent terms with his Anglican neighbours. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's younger sister, Frances, stayed at Swynner- 
ton, and while there she became engaged to, and married. Sir 
Carnaby Haggerston, fifth baronet of that name, and head of 
an ancient Northumberland Cathohc family. Lady Haggerston 
was almost as beautiful as her elder sister, but she lacked her 
social gifts and was of a quieter and less impulsive temperament. 
The Fitzherberts also came to London every year. Their 
house in Park Street, Park Lane, was a meeting-place of many 
of the old Roman Catholic families, and Mr. Fitzherbert was 
active in keeping alive the esprit de corps among them. Yet he 
was one of the most liberal-minded of the influential Roman 
Catholic laymen, and he was one of the first to show openly his 
loyalty to the estabhshed dynasty. Though the rising in 1745 
was still in the memory of many, a generation had grown up 
since the battle of Culloden. Charles Edward had sunk lower 
and lower in the estimation of his adherents, and was drinking 
himself to death on the continent. The House of Stuart had 
become the shadow of a shadow. It was now the second decade 
of George III.'s reign, and Roman Cathohcs were taking heart 
at the kindness shown to them by the King, who, though a 
staunch upholder of the national Church, was averse from the 
persecution of his Roman Cathohc subjects. An agitation, in 
which Mr. Fitzherbert was interested, was begun, for repealing 



14 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

the more obnoxious laws against them, and it bore fruit in the 
Roman Catholic Rehef Act of 1778, which repealed the very 
severe Act of 1699, though it still left them under many disabili- 
ties. The measure of relief thus granted was small, and the 
motive which prompted the government to pass it was probably 
political expediency rather than a more liberal one, but this 
concession to justice, httle though it was, excited the bigotry of 
the Presbyterians in Scotland, and the Protestant Dissenters in 
England (the Church of England held aloof), with the result 
that "No- Popery Riots" broke out in different parts of the 
kingdom. In 1780 these culminated in the disgraceful riots in 
London headed by the half crazy Lord George Gordon. For 
six days the metropolis was virtually at the mercy of the drunken 
and infuriated mob. Roman Catholic chapels were pillaged 
and burned, several mansions were wrecked, the gaols of New- 
gate and Clerkenwell were broken open and the prisoners set 
free, and Newgate was set on fire. Nearly five hundred persons 
were killed or wounded. The magistrates seemed paralysed, 
and had it not been for the determination of the King, who 
insisted on the military being called out, the whole of London 
might have been burned to the ground. The houses of the 
leading Roman Catholic laity were fortified as though for a 
siege. Many of them worked hard to quell the tumult, and to 
help their priests to escape from the violence of the mob. No 
one was more active than Mr. Fitzherbert, who laboured un- 
tiringly, with results that proved fatal to himself. When order 
was at last restored he returned home much heated by his 
exertions. He bathed, and this his wife afterwards said was 
the beginning of the illness which caused his death. It brought 
on a violent chill which settled on his lungs, and defied all 
remedies. His wife nursed him with unremitting care, and 
when the winter came on she took him to the south of France, 
in the hope that the warmth and sunshine would help him to 
recover his strength. But all efforts were in vain. Mr. Fitz- 
herbert died at Nice on May 7, 1781, at the early age of thirty- 
seven, nearly a year after the beginning of his illness. Mrs. 
Fitzherbert found herself left a widow for the second time at 
the age of twenty-five. Thus she was early made familiar with 
sorrow. " 

Mr. Fitzherbert was succeeded in the family estates of 



LULWORTH AND SWYNNERTON 15 

Norbury and Swynnerton by his brother Mr. Basil Fitzherbert, 
from whom the present head of the family descends.^ Mr. 
Thomas Fitzherbert had left ample provision for his widow. 
He left her a jointure of nearly ;^20oo a year, the remainder of 
the lease of his town house in Park Street with all the furniture 
and appointments therein; his horses and carriages, "also the 
ponies or Galloways she usually drives in the phaeton" — in 
short, everything in his power.^ 

The two first years of Mrs. Fitzherbert's widowhood were 
passed in retirement. She remained at Nice some time after 
her husband's death, and erected a monument to his memory 
in one of the churches there. Then she went to Paris, where 
she had many friends. In Paris, Mrs. Fitzherbert, who was 
one of the most charitable of women, interested herself in an 
institution for the benefit of poor Enghsh Roman Catholic 
ladies who had taken refuge in France. This benevolence was 
afterwards distorted by her enemies into a charge that when 
she was in Paris she was engaged with certain French Jesuits 
in intriguing for "the promotion of popery in England." This 
falsehood may be taken as a measure of many of the untruths 
afterwards propagated concerning her. 

In 1782 Mrs. Fitzherbert returned to England. We find a 
trace of her this year at Brighton.^ Soon after her return she 
took on lease the beautiful villa of Marble Hill at Richmond, 

1 A Short Pedigree of the Fitzherbert Family. 

Thomas Fitzherbert (of Norbury and Swynnerton), b. 1746, d. 1781, 

m. 1778, Mary Anne, dau. of Waher Smythe, Esq., and widow of 

Edward Weld, Esq. 

And was succeeded by his brother Basil Fitzherbert, d. 1797. 

Who was succeeded by his son Thomas Fitzherbert, d. 1857. 

Who was succeeded by his brother John Fitzherbert, d. 1863. 

Who was succeeded by his nephew Basil Thomas Fitzherbert, Esq., now of 
Swynnerton, the present head of the family, h. 1836, who married Emily Char- 
lotte, dau. of the Hon. Edward Stafford Jerningham and Marianne his wife 
(niece of Mrs. Fitzherbert). 

2 Mr. Fitzherbert's will was proved July 4, 1781, by Henry Errington (Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's uncle). From it these particulars are taken. 

3 In the supplementary Museum of the Royal Pavilion at Brighton there are 
four views of the Steine by a local artist, dated August i, 1782, and dedicated 
to Mrs. Fitzherbert. This goes to show that she was well known at Brighton 
at that time. 



i6 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

or, more properly, Twickenham. The house had been built by 
Mrs. Howard, afterwards Countess of Suffolk, the favourite of 
George II.: it was the famous villa of which Burlington and 
Pembroke designed the front, Bathurst and Pope planned the 
gardens, and Swift and Gay arranged the household. On 
Lady Suffolk's death it passed to her brother, and when he 
died it reverted to Miss Hotham, daughter of Sir Charles 
Hotham, who let it to Mrs. Fitzherbert. We may quote a 
description of the place as it was then from an old guidebook : — 

"The house is most properly stiled Marble Hill; for such it 
resembles, in a fine green laun, open to the river, and adorned 
on each side by a beautiful grove of chesnut trees: the house is 
as white as snow, a small building without wings, but of a most 
pleasing appearance; the garden is very pleasant; there is an 
alley of flowering shrubs, which leads with an easy descent to 
a very fine grotto; there is also a smaller grotto, whence there 
is a fine view of Richmond Hill." ^ 

Here Mrs. Fitzherbert lived quietly for a time, seeing only 
members of her family, and intimate friends. We find her in 
1783 a young and lovely widow, and endowed with ample for- 
tune, for ;^2ooo a year in those days represented much more 
than it does now. Before long the rumour of her beauty spread 
abroad, her friends urged her to quit her seclusion, and at last 
she yielded to their advice and returned to London, to the house 
her husband had left her in Park Street. We find her soon the 
subject of newspaper paragraphs. The first mention of her is 
in the Morning Herald, March 20, 1784: "Mrs. Fitzherbert is 
arrived in London for the season." 

In London she threw open her house to her friends and 
went into society. The many Roman Catholic families to 
whom she was allied, by birth or marriage, came to see her, 
and certain leaders of society called upon her, and made her 
welcome to their houses. Prominent among these was Lady 
Sefton,^ one of the great ladies who for many years gave the ton 
to society in London. Lord and Lady Sefton, though not 
Roman Catholics, were connected with the Smythe family 

1 "A Short Account of the Principal Seats and Gardens in and about Twick- 
enham." Circa 1770. 

2 Isabella, daughter of the second Earl of Harrington, and wife of the ninth 
Viscount and first Earl of Sefton. 




> I 

(—1 ^ 

w ^ 

o S 



LULWORTH AND SWYNNERTON 17 

through the Erringtons. Lady Sefton showed the warmest 
sympathy and friendship towards her young kinswoman, and 
it was through her that Mrs. Fitzherbert became acquainted 
with other great ladies not of her rehgion, and on both sides of 
pohtics, such as the beautiful Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, 
the Duchess of Gordon, Lady Salisbury, Lady Cowper and 
others. This year marked her first appearance in what may 
be called general society, for during Mr. Fitzherbert's lifetime, 
she had moved almost exclusively among the Roman Cathohc 
cousinhood. She was an immediate success. We find the 
following paragraph in the Morning Herald, July 27, 1784: — 

"A new Constellation has lately made an appearance in the 
fashionable hemisphere, that engages the attention of those 
whose hearts are susceptible to the power of beauty. The 
Widow of the late Mr. F — h — t has in her train half our young 
Nobility : as the Lady has not, as yet, discovered a partiality for 
any of her admirers, they are all animated with hopes of success." 

Mrs. Fitzherbert's beauty, her varied gifts, her means and 
good connections, all contributed to her social success. It was 
said that during this season in London she refused many 
excellent offers of marriage, including one from the young 
Duke of Bedford, who on her refusal never married, but re- 
mained in love with her until the day of his death.^ Probably 
she wished to enjoy her freedom, and did not desire to enter the 
matrimonial state again so soon. It is certain that she might 
have married a third time almost any one she would, and have 
occupied an assured position of rank and dignity had not evil 
destiny thrown her in the path of the Prince of Wales. 

1 Francis, fifth Duke of Bedford (1765-1802). This is open to doubt, for 
the Duke was then only in his twentieth year, and in after Hfe he was said to 
be in love with Charlotte, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of George III. The 
Duke, however, was always a great friend of Mrs. Fitzherbert's, and he died 
unmarried. 



CHAPTER III 

PRINCE CHARMING 

(i 762-1784) 

George, Prince of Wales, had barely come of age ^ when 
he first met Mrs. Fitzherbert, but he had already entered on 
that career of pleasure which marked his hot youth and his 
wild manhood. By his thousand extravagances, his racing, 
his gambling, his lavish hospitahty, the "improvement" of his 
palace of Carlton House, and his reckless generosity to the fair 
sex, he was already piling up that burden of debt which was to 
embarrass him for the rest of his life. 

By inchnation as well as by position, he was the leader of 
fashion and gaiety in London, and society generally encouraged 
and applauded him in his extravagances. When the young 
Prince first "came upon the town," London was (after Paris) 
the gayest city in the world; and all society, men and women, 
old and young, were devoted to the pursuit of pleasure in its 
most showy and pronounced form. The spirit of robust en- 
joyment of the early Georgian era still flourished, but some of 
its grossness had worn off, and there had come a veneer, hardly 
to be called refinement, which seemed to have more in common 
with the Stuarts than with the House of Hanover. George III. 
and Queen Charlotte by their parsimonious court and strict 
lives had lost touch with society (in the restricted sense of the 
word, though they were popular with the middle classes), and 
could no longer restrain its excesses. They lived chiefly at 
Kew and Windsor, and except in name there was no longer a 
court in London. The advent, therefore, of a brilliant and 
handsome Prince, to whom the world seemed a garden of 
delight, was hailed with rapture. It was declared that for the 

* George IV. was born at St. James' Palace, August 12, 1762. 



PRINCE CHARMING 19 

first time since the death of Charles II. an EngHsh Prince was 
a gentleman and a wit. It was hoped that the day of German 
predilections and German manners was over. To London 
society, weary of the dulness and ugliness of the courts of the 
early Georgian Sovereigns, this young Prince, born on English 
soil, bred in England, and speaking English with "no West- 
phalian accent," as Horace Walpole calls it, came as a Prince 
Charming. There is no doubt that the Prince of Wales was 
charming; no Stuart Prince was ever more graceful than he, 
more generous, and one would fain hope more chivalrous. He 
was tall, and finely formed; he had a handsome and manly 
countenance ; his leg — legs were much esteemed in the eigh- 
teenth century — was the envy of all the beaux; his smile the 
desire of all the belles; and his bow the most princely bow of 
any prince in Europe. His beauty was heightened by the 
picturesque dress of the period. He dressed with great richness 
and variety, as well he might, for it is said that his clothes, for 
one year, amounted to no less than ;^io,ooo. One of his early 
admirers, who had every opportunity of judging, dwells on the 
"graces of his person, the irresistible sweetness of his smile, the 
tenderness of his melodious yet manly voice, the polish and 
fascinating ingenuousness of his manners." ^ 

The young Prince had the happy faculty of seeming to be 
intensely interested in the person to whom he was talking, 
whoever that person might be, and he could talk well on almost 
any subject, for he had considerable natural ability and many 
accomplishments. He could speak French, Italian, and Ger- 
man fluently; he was well-read in the classics; he was a fine 
musician; and he affected a taste for art and the belles lettres. 
His taste was not always correct, and tended overmuch to the 
showy and florid, yet, in comparison with that of his father, 
who had no taste at all, it was hailed as perfect. With all his 
luxurious habits he could not be called effeminate. He loved 
outdoor exercise, and showed to great advantage on horseback; 
he was a good shot, an accomplished fencer, skilful in the noble 
art of self-defence, and could on occasion use his fists with 
good effect. These things stood to his credit. On the other 
hand it must be admitted that he was not truthful. But the 

1 "Memoirs of Mary Robinson: 'Perdita,'" 1895. 



20 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

blame for that did not rest wholly with him. "You know I 
don't speak the truth," he said once, "and my brothers don't, 
the Queen having taught us early to equivocate." It is also 
true that he was reckless and dissipated, that the town was full 
of stories of his wild doings, that he gambled, and drank and 
swore, and he had already been engaged in several affairs of 
gallantry. But these things did not make him unpopular; on 
the contrary, sad to relate, they rather added to his popularity. 
Most of the young men of fashion in those days (and many of 
the old men too) played for high stakes, drank more than was 
good for them, rapped out fearful oaths on the smallest provo- 
cation, and all too lightly regarded the marriage tie. One 
cannot make the young Prince responsible (as some would 
seem to do) for all the vices and follies of his day. In fact one 
cannot hold him altogether responsible for his own, when we 
look back on his loveless boyhood and unwise upbringing. His 
father was cold, stiff, and unsympathetic; he disliked his eldest 
son, treated him harshly, and openly insulted him before the 
courtiers. His mother alternately spoilt him and turned against 
him. His younger brother Frederick,^ to whom he was de- 
votedly attached, was taken away from him, when on the 
threshold of manhood, and sent to Hanover. He had no one 
to help or advise him, and it may be doubted whether there 
was one disinterested person, among all his so-called friends, 
who really cared for him. His impulses were good, he was 
affectionate and warm-hearted, generous and open-handed to 
a fault. We speak of him as he was in his early manhood; the 
time had not yet come when all the good in him was turned to 
evil by bad companions, parasites and flatterers, his very virtues 
tortured into vices, and every noble instinct choked by the 
growth of gross passions. One could not say of him even in 
his youth, that he was unspotted from the world, but one could 
say that he had more good in him than evil, and had his finer 
qualities been fostered and developed he would have grown up 
a wiser and a better man. His tutor, Bishop Hurd, was asked 
one day his opinion of his pupil, then a' boy of fifteen years of 
age. "I can hardly tell," he replied; "he will be either the 
most polished gentleman or the most accomplished blackguard 

1 Frederick, Prince Bishop of Osnabriick, afterwards Duke of York, second 
son of George III. 



PRINCE CHARMING 21 

in Europe, possibly both." ^ Tlie "possibly both" in years to 
come proved the true prediction. 

The Prince of Wales had passed his boyhood shut up in a 
palace which was almost a prison, and deprived of rational 
amusements. His father's jealousy kept him back as much as 
possible, treating him as a child when he was a boy and as a 
boy when he was a man. So things went on until the Prince 
reached his nineteenth year, when, as he became legally of age 
as heir to the throne, the King could no longer keep him under 
lock and key, and was compelled to grant him a small estab- 
lishment of his own and apartments in Buckingham House. 
For even this Hmited measure of freedom the Prince was all 
unprepared, and it is no wonder that his new-found hberty 
degenerated into Hcense. He fell into bad company; he had 
an amour with the beautiful actress Perdita Robinson ; he made 
friends with his uncle the Duke of Cumberland, who hated the 
King and Queen because of their refusal to receive his Duchess 
at court, and therefore did his best to prejudice the son against 
the father. He also became intimate with the Duke of Chartres, 
afterwards Duke of Orleans, the notorious Egahte, who led him 
into great extravagance. To all these companions the King 
naturally objected, but he objected still more to the Prince's 
connection with the Whigs, and especially to his close friendship 
with Charles James Fox, then at the height of his brilhant 
talents. George III.'s hatred of Fox amounted almost to a 
mania, and he came to regard him as the instigator of all his 
son's escapades. When the Prince came of full age in 1783 
his friends the Whigs chanced to be in power, and Ministers 
proposed that the King should give him ^100,000 a year from 
the Civil List. The King turned on them with an outburst of 
rage, and accused them of being "ready to sacrifice the public 
interests to the wishes of an ill-advised young man." He spoke 
tauntingly of the government — the Coahtion Ministry — as 
"my son's Ministry," and conducted himself so outrageously 
that the Ministers threatened to resign. The Prince behaved 
well and with dignity, and in the end a compromise was arrived 
at, the King giving ;^5o,ooo a year out of the Civil List and 
Parliament granting ;^3o,ooo for the Prince's debts (he had 
already debts) and as much more for his outfit. 

1 "Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Richard Hurd," i860 



22 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

The Prince was now in the enjoyment of his own income 
and of his separate estabhshment at Carlton House, which had 
been given him as a suitable residence. Carlton House stood 
opposite what is now Waterloo Place, looking northward. The 
fore court was separated from Pall Mall by a long range of 
columns; this colonnade screened the fapade from the gaze of 
the vulgar. The palace was entered by a handsome Corinthian 
portico. The fine entrance hall and a great staircase with a 
raihng ghttering with gold led to several magnificent saloons, 
such as the state apartments, the cupola room, the rose satin 
drawing-room, and the armoury, said to be one of the finest in 
Europe. The Prince's private apartments were on the ground 
floor, looking over the gardens which ran as far as Marlborough 
House, and in the summer were a mass of leaf and bloom.^ 

Emancipated from parental control, the first use the Prince 
made of his freedom was to identify himself more closely than 
before with the principles of the Whig Party. He made a 
speech in the House of Lords in which he declared — "I exist 
by the love, friendship, and benevolence of the people, and 
their cause I will never forsake as long as I live." He attended 
the debates in the House of Commons, and showed his sympathy 
with the Whigs by noisily applauding their speeches. The 
King and the Tories made a great outcry about this, but as 
George III. was a violent partisan on the other side, and was 
secretly plotting the overthrow of his own (Whig) Government, 
it was hardly for him to rebuke the conduct of the Prince of 
Wales on this head. 

The Coalition Ministry came suddenly and ignominiously 
to an end in December 1783, and the Prince's friends went out 
of ofhce. The Prince took an eager part in the general election 
that followed in May 1784, especially on behalf of his friend 
Fox, the "man of the people," who stood for Westminster. 
The story of the Westminster election has been told too often 
to need re-telling here. The Prince turned Carlton House into 
a committee room for his friends, and the beautiful Duchess 
of Devonshire bought votes with her kisses. When Fox's name 
appeared at the head of the poll he was carried in procession 

1 Carlton House was pulled down in 1828 to make room for the central 
opening of Waterloo Place. Some of the Corinthian columns now help to 
form the portico of the National Gallery. 




KEW PALACE, WHERE GEORGE, PRINCE OF WALES, 
WAS BORN 




CARLTON HOUSE, FACING PALL MALL 



PRINCE CHARMING 23 

to Carlton House in a chair wreathed with laurels and preceded 
by a banner inscribed "Sacred to Female Patriotism." The 
same night the Prince, arrayed in buff and blue, Fox's party 
colours, went to a supper party given by the fair and fascinating 
Mrs. Crewe in honour of the event. Fox was there and the 
Duchess of Devonshire, and all were arrayed in the same colours. 
The Prince gave the toast "True blue and Mrs. Crewe," to 
which the lady with ready wit replied by proposing "True blue 
and all of you." The Prince also celebrated Fox's victory a 
few days later at Carlton House by giving a magnificent jete. 
The young Prince showed to great advantage in his own house 
— no host ever did the honours more gracefully — and on this 
occasion the gentlemen, including the Prince himself, waited on 
the ladies at table before sitting down themselves. This fete 
was regarded by the Court as the climax of the Prince's insub- 
ordination. No notice was taken of his birthday at Windsor, 
and the King ranked him among his enemies. 

The Prince did not take this mark of parental displeasure 
very much to heart, and found distraction in new gaieties and 
entertainments. Of all the brilliant, pleasure-loving crowd who 
at this time surrounded the Prince, undoubtedly the two persons 
who exercised the most influence over him were Fox and the 
Duchess of Devonshire. 

Charles James Fox ^ was at this time about thirty-four years 
of age, and in the meridian of his fame and his great abilities. 
He had filled high offices under the Crown, and had been leader 
of the House of Commons and Secretary of State for Foreign 
Affairs. He had made his magnificent oration on the American 
War, and was famous in both hemispheres. He had inherited 
from his ancestor, Charles II., not only his swarthy, saturnine 
appearance, but also his love of vicious pleasures, more espe- 
cially for gambling and women. He was stout, heavily built, 
and unwieldy, neghgent in his dress and slovenly in his personal 
appearance. But when he smiled, or when he spoke, his whole 
being seemed transformed, and he won to his side all whom he 
would. He was a good friend — eager, warm-hearted, unself- 
ish. His personal creed was frankly epicurean; in religious 

1 Charles James Fox (1749-1806), third son of Henry Fox, afterwards Lord 
Holland, and Lady Caroline Georgina, daughter of Charles Lennox, second 
Duke of Richmond, grandson of Charles II. 



24 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

matters he had no fixed belief. Yet in his poHtical life he was 
a man of lofty ideals and high principles. Such was this re- 
markable man, the "my dear Charles" of so many of the young 
Prince's impassioned letters. The King strove in vain to break 
the friendship, and in an agony implored the Lord Chancellor, 
Thurlow, to tell him what he could do. "Sir," replied the 
surly Thurlow, "you will never have peace until you clap 'em 
both into the Tower." 

The Duchess of Devonshire,^ who was devoted heart and 
soul to Fox, also exercised an influence over the Prince, an 
influence social rather than political, though there was no 
keener politician than she. The King and Queen disliked the 
Duchess almost as much as Fox, but they could not show their 
displeasure to her in the same way. When the beautiful Geor- 
giana condescended to grace their dull drawing-rooms with her 
presence they were bound to receive her with politeness, for the 
young Duchess of Devonshire was a very great lady, not only 
by virtue of her rank, but by reason of her vivid and inspiring 
personahty. Nearly all contemporary accounts describe her 
charms as beyond compare. She was tall and most divinely 
fair, with deep blue eyes, and hair of a reddish tinge. Wraxall, 
who knew her well, says that the secret of her charm lay deeper 
than her beauty. "It lay in the amenity and graces of her de- 
portment, her irresistible manners, and the seductions of her 
society. ... In addition to the external advantages she had re- 
ceived from nature and fortune she possessed an ardent temper, 
susceptible of deep as well as strong impressions; a cultivated 
understanding, illuminated by a taste for poetry and the fine 
arts; much sensibility, not exempt, perhaps, from vanity and 
coquetry." ^ The Duchess, in short, was a brilliant paradox. 
On one side she was beautiful, graceful and witty, kind-hearted 
and philanthropic, full of generous impulses and high ideals; 
yet on the other she was incredibly reckless and foolish, willing 
to risk everything on the hazard of the moment; of a restless 
energy ever seeking something new, panting for notoriety, 
swayed by desire, Hving always for the hour with no thought 
beyond, yet beyond all words lovable. 

* Georgiana (i 757-1806), eldest daughter of the first Earl Spencer, married 
1774 the fifth Duke of Devonshire. 

2 "Posthumous Memoirs of my own Time," by Sir Nathaniel Wraxall. 



PRINCE CHARMING 25 

This peerless creature had been married at seventeen to a 
husband who soon grew indifferent to her, a grand seigneur, 
whose constitutional apathy formed his most distinguishing 
characteristic. The young Prince of Wales was much influenced 
by the Duchess, whom he declared, not without reason, to be 
"the best bred woman in England." He consulted her on all 
matters of fashion and taste. It was she who helped him to 
choose the furniture and decorations of Carlton House, and 
when he revived masquerades, which had fallen into disfavour, 
it was with the Duchess that he opened the brilliant one at a 
club in St. James's Street. Devonshire House was the centre 
of Whiggism, and the Duchess was the Egeria of the party. 
The Prince of Wales was a constant frequentfcr of the parties 
at Devonshire House, which was then the resort not only of 
politicians but of all the wits and heaux esprits of the day. 

Such was George, Prince of Wales, such his environment 
and his friends, when he thrust himself into the life of Mrs. 
Fitzherbert. 

It is not possible to give the exact date when the Prince of 
Wales first saw Mrs. Fitzherbert, but we shall probably be not 
far wrong in assuming that it was some time during the year of 
his coming of age. Romance and tradition have it that they 
first met on the banks of the Thames at Richmond in the spring 
of 1783, when she was living quietly at Richmond and he was 
staying at Kew. Neither knew who the other was, but the 
Prince fell at once in love with the fair incognita. In the 
excitement and bustle consequent on his coming of age (August 
1783) he appears to have lost sight of her for the time being. 
Yet she had made a deep impression on him. We read of the 
Prince at a dinner party at Lord Lewisham's about the time 
he attained his majority. The Prince had drunk deep, and 
after dinner fell into a gloomy reverie. Presently in one of 
those confidences with which he often honoured his friends, he 
bewailed his sad lot, and said he envied the Dukes of Devon- 
shire and Rutland, who had been free to marry beautiful and 
clever women whom they loved. For his part he supposed he 
should be forced to marry some "ugly German frow." Then 
he turned to Rigby, Master of the Rolls, and asked him what 
he would advise him to do. "Faith, sir," answered Rigby, 



26 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

"I am not yet drunk enough to give advice to the Prince of 
Wales about marrying." The conversation showed that there 
was something on the Prince's mind, and before long that 
something was revealed. 

According to another account the Prince first saw Mrs. 
Fitzherbert in Lady Sefton's box at the Opera, and was so 
struck with her unusual beauty that he had her followed home. 
The two accounts are not necessarily irreconcilable if we read 
the second to mean that it was the first time he saw her in 
London. This occasion must have been early in 1784. Mrs. 
Fitzherbert had come to London in March, and there is nothing 
more probable than that she should have been at the Opera with 
her relative. Lady Sefton, with whom she went everywhere at 
that time. But it is unlikely that the Prince, except for the 
mere love of intrigue, would have had the lady followed home, 
for Lady Sefton was well known to him, and he could have 
gone to her box and requested that Mrs. Fitzherbert should be 
presented to him. Besides, there were plenty who could have 
told him of the ''lovely Fitzherbert," who, if she were not in 
the Prince's set, was a lady of the first fashion, who had already 
created a sensation by her beauty. The Prince was a connois- 
seur in female loveliness, but hers was of an unusual type. 
Her wealth of golden hair was unpowdered, the warm pallor of 
her cheeks was unrouged, her lustrous eyes were also innocent 
of art, and her sunny smile was guileless. She had not yet 
developed the perhaps too aquiline nose that came in later 
years, her profile was exquisite, and the curves of her beautiful 
figure were not yet marred by being too round. 

The Prince always vowed that he fell in love with the lovely 
young widow at first sight, but then he vowed that of many. 
After their meeting, by whatever means effected, he took care 
not to lose sight of her again. He lost no time in becoming 
better acquainted with her; he eagerly sought her society, and 
found her not only beautiful, but gifted and attractive — attrac- 
tive to him in a way no woman had been before. His passion 
increased by leaps and bounds. He made opportunities of meet- 
ing her, he followed her everywhere, he was always at her side, 
and his attentions to her were so marked that before long they 
became the most engrossing topic of fashionable conversation. 

The Prince soon found that Mrs. Fitzherbert was of quite 



PRINCE CHARMING 27 

another calibre to the ladies whom he had hitherto honoured 
with his preference. At first she accepted his homage for 
what it was worth, and the marked attentions of the young and 
handsome Prince, with whom half the women in London were 
in love, flattered her vanity if it did not touch her heart. The 
Prince exerted himself to the utmost to please her, and his 
utmost was very good indeed, but she did not treat his devotion 
seriously. She insisted on regarding the gay and graceful 
badinage that passed between them as nothing more than the 
amusement of the passing hour, to be forgotten on the morrow. 
She trusted to her own good sense to keep his devotion within 
due limits, but the Prince did not recognise any limits where 
his passions were concerned. He grew more impetuous and 
more fervid, and opposition or evasion only served to make 
him keener. She could not parry an attack so ardent and so 
prolonged, her weapons of defence were beaten down one by 
one, until at last she was forced to realise that there was more 
behind his vows than mere gallantry, or the facile protestations 
of an amorous boy. Then she became alarmed, and strove 
too late to break off the acquaintance; but the Prince was not 
to be baffled — the more she opposed him the more persistent 
were his attentions. There was no extravagance of which he 
was not capable, and the lady began to be fearful lest her good 
name should become compromised. It did not matter what 
line she took, whether she met him with firmness and indiffer- 
ence, whether she besought him with tears and entreaties to 
leave her in peace, or met his vows with incredulity or ridicule. 
Whatever she did only served to inflame his ardour. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert was at her wits' end how to escape the 
Prince's importunities. She did not leave London until the 
season was over, for she had many friends, she loved society, 
and was generally admired. She did not need the Prince's 
admiration to give a cachet to her social success, for it hindered 
rather than helped her. When she retired to her villa at 
Richmond in the summer he pursued her there, and contrived 
on some pretext or another to spend hours daily in her society. 
It is said that the popular ballad^ — 

"I'd crowns resign to call thee mine, 
Sweet lass of Richmond Hill" — 

1 The ballad was sung at Vauxhall in 1789. 



28 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

was inspired by the Prince's devotion to Mrs. Fitzherbert which 
had by now become the talk of the town. But this seems open 
to doubt, for the lady was hardly "a lass" at the time, being in 
the twenty-eighth year of her age, and twice a widow. She 
was old enough certainly to see the folly of encouraging the 
Prince's devotion, and to reahse that she had everything to lose 
and nothing to gain by such an entanglement. Whither could 
it lead? She had told him in the words Lady Waldegrave 
once used to the Duke of Gloucester, "that though she was too 
inconsiderable a person to become his wife, she was too con- 
siderable to become his mistress." The Duke of Gloucester 
had got over the difficulty by marrying the lady, who was now 
his duchess, but that marriage, though a clandestine one, was 
legal, as it took place before the Royal Marriage Act was passed. 
Moreover, the Duke of Gloucester was not the heir-apparent to 
the throne, and his duchess (a woman of inferior birth to Mrs. 
Fitzherbert) was a member of the Church of England. Mrs. 
Fitzherbert was a Roman CathoHc by birth, education, and 
marriage, and she would not for any earthly consideration 
sacrifice her rehgion. She was a woman of high principles, 
of irreproachable virtue, of independent fortune and good posi- 
tion. It was a case of marriage or nothing at all; but since 
marriage was impossible, it would be better, she said, for the 
Prince to forget her. Her heart was touched, it was difficult to 
deny her love to one who pleaded so eloquently, and who vowed 
that he would abjure crown and kingdom for her sake, but she 
stood firm. At last she refused to see him, and gave no answer 
to his letters. "She resisted," we are told, "with the utmost 
anxiety and firmness the flattering assiduities of the most 
accompHshed Prince of his age. She was well aware of the 
gulf that yawned beneath those flattering demonstrations of 
Royal adulation." ^ 

So things went on until the autumn of 1784. The Prince 
had become almost beside himself with the extravagance of his 
passion. He vowed he could not, and would not, Hve without 
her. He passed days and nights in tears and violent emotion. 
His chosen friends in whom he confided were at a loss to know 
what to do to pacify him, and since he swore that nothing would 

1 Langdale, op. cit. 




GEORGE, PRINCE OF WALES 

{From the Painting hv Thomas Gainsborough at Aske, by permission of the 
Marquess of Zetland) 



PRINCE CHARMING 29 

satisfy him but to gain the object of his desire, they would have 
hked Mrs. Fitzherbert to waive her scruples and surrender at 
discretion. It was far from their interests to connive at a 
secret marriage between the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
They knew that such a marriage was illegal by an Act of Par- 
liament, which made the abettors liable to severe penalties, and 
if by any flaw the Act could be evaded and the union regarded 
as legal, it would expose the Prince to even greater dangers for 
having married a Roman Catholic. These considerations they 
put before the Prince, but he refused to hsten to the voice of 
prudence. Remonstrances only made him more desperate. 
All his life he was subject to attacks of violent excitability, 
akin to the terrible illness from which his father suffered. 
Opposition to his desires goaded him to the point of madness. 
In this state he made not only his own life but the lives of every 
one around him unbearable, until at last, worn out by the 
intolerable strain, some of his confidential friends (and he had 
always some at hand ready to pander to his follies) thought 
they saw a way out of the difficulty. They hit upon an expe- 
dient — "some sort of ceremony" which, they hoped, would 
deceive the lady, and not be binding on the Prince — in fact 
a mock marriage. Something they felt had to be done, for the 
affair had reached an acute stage. Mrs. Fitzherbert, worn out 
by the Prince's importunities, and not sure what extravagance 
he might commit, perhaps not sure of herself, resolved to flee 
temptation and go abroad. This resolution reached the ears 
of the Prince and plunged him into the most violent agitation. 
A crisis arrived. 

One morning in November 1784, when Mrs. Fitzherbert 
was in London making preparations for her journey, a coach 
drew up at the door of her house in Park Street, and four mem- 
bers of the Prince's household. Lord Onslow, Lord Southamp- 
ton, Mr. Edward Bouverie,^ and Keate, the surgeon, descended 
from it and demanded to see Mrs. Fitzherbert on urgent busi- 
ness. When she received them she saw that they were in the 
"utmost consternation." They informed her "that the hfe of 
the Prince was in imminent danger — that he had stabbed 
himself — and that only her immediate presence would save 

1 The Hon. Edward Bouverie, second son of first Viscount Folkestone, 
later M.P. for Northampton, d. 1810. 



30 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

him. She resisted in the most peremptory manner all their 
importunities, saying that nothing should induce her to enter 
Carlton House." ^ She well knew its reputation and suspected 
a trap. Still they implored her to come with them, and so 
save this precious life. It is probable that Keate, the surgeon, 
added his testimony as to the nature of the Prince's wound. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert became agitated and alarmed, but still she 
held back. She could not go alone with men to the house of 
her lover without risking her reputation. At last, between love 
and fear, she gave a half consent and said she would go, but 
on the indispensable condition that "some lady of high charac- 
ter" was found to accompany her. She may have thought of 
her relative, Lady Sefton, but we are told that the Duchess of 
Devonshire was selected. She was certainly more pliable than 
Lady Sefton, and was besides a friend of both Mrs. Fitzherbert 
and the Prince. This difhculty overcome, Mrs. Fitzherbert 
entered the coach which was waiting outside, and drove with 
the four men to Devonshire House. There she found the 
Duchess, who assented willingly, delighted at the idea of taking 
part in so romantic an adventure. Accompanied by the 
Duchess, Mrs. Fitzherbert drove to Carlton House, and was 
at once admitted to the Prince's presence. She found him in 
his private apartment on the ground floor, which overlooked 
the garden and St. James's Park. He was pale and covered 
with blood which issued from a wound in his side, the wound 
which his friends assured her had been self-inflicted by the 
Prince in consequence of her cruelty. According to the Prince, 
he had fallen upon his sword. According to another account, 
he had stabbed himself with a dagger. According to a third, he 
had tried to shoot himself, but hit the head of his bed instead; 
the pistol had been taken away from him, he then possessed 
himself of a table knife and drove it into his side. This would 
go to show that he was either half-mad or half-drunk, or, 
between the two, had worked himself up to a frenzy. The 
theory has also been put forward that the Prince had simply 
been "blooded" by Keate to reheve the violence of his passion, 
and he had dabbled the blood about his clothes to make himself 
look more interesting in the eyes of his beloved. However this 

1 Langdale, op. cit. 



PRINCE CHARMING 31 

may have been, he was successful in arousing her sympathies. 
The sight of her lover in such a pHght so overcame Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert that "she was deprived almost of consciousness." This 
was exactly what the Prince wanted. He pushed home his 
advantage by vowing that "nothing would induce him to live 
unless she promised to become his wife, and permitted him to 
put a ring round her finger." The frightened lady gave the 
promise, for she firmly beheved that nothing else would save 
him from self-destruction, and a ring, one borrowed from the 
Duchess of Devonshire, who, with the men before mentioned, 
were interested witnesses of the scene, was put upon her finger, 
and so completed the ceremony. Mrs. Fitzherbert's acqui- 
escence calmed the Prince, and trusting to her promise to be his 
wife he suffered her to depart. She drove back with the 
Duchess to Devonshire House, the four men following, and a 
deposition was drawn up, signed and sealed by each one of the 
party.^ 

When Mrs. Fitzherbert returned to her own house and 
could look back quietly over the events of the exciting day, 
she clearly saw that it was not a ceremony which could be 
binding either on her honour or her conscience. It was in 
short a mock marriage, and the four "gentlemen" who had 
planned it had conspired against her honour. From this con- 
spiracy she exonerated the Prince, who had frequently expressed 
himself as ready and willing to marry her; then and all her life 
she believed that the Prince had sought to kill himself for her 
sake, and that nothing but her compliance with his wishes at 
the moment had saved him from self-destruction. Half a 
century later, when she narrated this extraordinary incident to 
her relative, Lord Stourton, he suggested "that some trick had 
been practised and that it was not really the blood of His Royal 
Highness," but she assured him to the contrary. She declared 
that "she had frequently seen the scar," ^ and added the not 
very convincing proof that some brandy-and-water was near 
his bedside. In her bewilderment she was not at the time a 

1 Mrs. Fitzherbert told Lord Stourton after George IV.'s death that "for 
all she knew to the contrary it [the deposition] might still be there." — Langdale, 
op. cit. 

2 The Rev. Johnes Knight also said that the Prince showed him the scar 
when he wanted him to perform the marriage between him and Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert. 



32 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

very critical observer, and like the Prince she was of an excitable 
and emotional temperament. Like many another woman, even 
the most diffident, she cherished the secret belief that her lover 
would be ready to die for her sake. Her^ romantic sympathies 
were aroused, and she was touched by this proof of his devotion. 
But now that the immediate danger was over her fears on her 
own account returned with redoubled force. She realised her 
peril, and, always swayed by impulse, she resolved to carry out 
her intention of flight. She wrote a letter that same evening 
to Lord Southampton, denouncing the conduct of himself and 
his colleagues in enticing her to Carlton House. She protested 
against what had taken place there, and declared that, as she 
was taken by surprise, she could not be considered a free agent. 
The next morning she left England. 



CHAPTER IV 

PLIGHT 

(1784-1785) 

Mrs. Fitzherbert went first to Aix-la-Chapelle, the ancient 
city of Charlemagne. In those days Aix-la-Chapelle was a 
favourite health resort, and much frequented by English as 
well as by foreign notabilities. The medicinal powers of its 
sulphur springs were famous all over Europe, and the com- 
parative nearness of Aix-la-Chapelle to England made it a 
formidable rival to Bath and Cheltenham among English people 
as a resort, not only of health but of pleasure. Mrs. Fitzherbert 
visited Aix at intervals throughout her life. On this occasion 
she stayed there for some weeks, and on leaving she crossed 
the frontier to the neighbouring country of Holland and went 
to the Hague. The Hague was also a resort of English people, 
many of whom lived there, as they used to live at Breda, for 
motives of economy, a motive which did not enter in Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's case. But at this time there were comparatively 
few English at the Hague, for Holland was in an unsettled state, 
torn by conflicting parties within, and harassed fron\ without 
by the opposing interests of France and England. France had 
encouraged the state to form a pure republic, independent of 
the Stadtholder, and so render it a French province. The 
English policy was to preserve the state's independence and to 
form an Anglo-Dutch alliance. 

The Statdholder, who was a grandson of George 11.,^ fa- 
voured the Enghsh pohcy, and was anxious to strengthen his 
dynasty by an alliance between one of his daughters and the 
Prince of Wales. The Stadtholder was weak and vacillating, 
but his consort ^ was a high-spirited, clever and accomplished 

1 Anne, Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of George II., married in 1733 
the Prince of Orange. 

2 The Princess of Orange was the daughter of Prince William Augustus of 
Prussia, and a niece of Frederick the Great. 

D 33 



34 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

princess. Her domestic life was unhappy, and her pubHc Hfe 
one of perpetual anxiety. It is strange that Mrs. Fitzherbert 
should have elected to go to The Hague at a time when the 
country was on the verge of civil war, and the reigning family 
on the brink of ruin, but she probably had introductions to the 
court of Orange, for she was received with the greatest kindness 
by the Stadtholder and his family. The Stadtholder was proud 
of his descent from the Royal Family of Great Britain, and 
was always willing to welcome English people for their own 
sake. It would seem, however, that Mrs. Fitzherbert was 
admitted to terms of unusual intimacy, and the young Princess 
of Orange in particular, who wished to be Princess of Wales, 
honoured her with her confidence. Personal kinship and public 
interest marked the Princess out as a likely candidate, and she, 
knowing that Mrs. Fitzherbert was well known in the fashion- 
able world of London, plied her with questions concerning the 
Prince and the English court, all unconscious of the fact that 
she was confiding in "her most dangerous rival." ^ The posi- 
tion was exceedingly embarrassing to Mrs. Fitzherbert. Of 
the Prince she knew much, a great deal more than she cared 
to say, but of the Enghsh court she could have known Httle 
more than any other woman of fashion who attended Queen 
Charlotte's drawing-rooms. She parried the questions of the 
would-be Princess of Wales as well as she could, and said 
nothing of what had passed between the Prince and herself. 
Indeed she saw, or thought she saw, in the possible alHance an 
escape from her own difficulties, and would willingly have 
furthered it if she could. She thus excused herself from any 
reflection of double-deahng. Of course she could do nothing 
either to help or hinder the union, and subsequent events proved 
that a marriage of policy, such as this, would have been a very 
slight obstacle in the path of the Prince of Wales where his 
desires were concerned. The projected marriage fell to the 
ground. In after years, when the Stadtholder was a fugitive in 
England, Mrs. Fitzherbert met both him and the Princess 
again. By that time her relations with the Prince of Wales 
were well known. The Princess of Orange good-humouredly 
acquitted her former friend of all blame (perhaps she thought 

1 Langdale, op. cit. 



FLIGHT 35 

she had a lucky escape), but the Stadtholder treated Mrs. 
Fitzherbert with great coolness, and evidently attributed to 
her the failure of the match. 

During Mrs. Fitzherbert's visit to The Hague, no hint of her 
entanglement with the Prince of Wales reached the court of 
Orange. The Stadtholder treated her with every courtesy, and 
when she brought her sojourn to a close he placed his state 
barge at her disposal to convey her to Antwerp. The cause 
which probably led Mrs. Fitzherbert to take her departure 
from The Hague, where she was so well received, was the arrival 
there, at the end of December 1784, of Sir James Harris,^ who 
had been accredited British Minister to the court of Orange. 
Harris was an able diplomatist, an astute man of the world, 
and a consummate courtier; he was honoured by the confidence 
of George HI. and Queen Charlotte, who often employed him 
in private matters with regard to their troublesome family. 
He was also on terms of intimate friendship with the Prince of 
Wales, and the story of the Prince's devotion to Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert must have been well known to him. Mrs. Fitzherbert 
therefore did not care to meet him at this juncture, and hastened 
her departure from The Hague in order to avoid him. 

She went first to Paris; but as she sought retirement, she 
did not stay there long. Early in 1785 we hear of her in Swit- 
zerland, and then a httle later at Plombiers in Lorraine. At 
Plombiers we must leave her for a time and return to the Prince 
of Wales, 

The day after the scene at Carlton House the Prince of 
Wales "went down into the country to Lord Southampton's for 
change of air." After the violent paroxysm he had undergone, 
and weakness from loss of blood, a few days' quiet must have 
been necessary. He was probably advised to let Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert rest a while, and renew the attack on his return to 
London. But his plans were baffled. Lord Southampton re- 
ceived the letter Mrs. Fitzherbert wrote to him the day before 
she left England, and he communicated it to the Prince. We 
can imagine the outburst of rage and emotion with which the 
royal lover received the news. According to Lord Holland, 

* James Harris, first Earl of Malmesbury (1746-1S20). 



36 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

"he did not conceal his passion, or his despair at her leaving 
England for the Continent." ^ 

His first thought was to follow her, but Mrs. Fitzherbert 
had crossed the Channel before the news reached him, and he 
had no trace of her hiding-place. Besides, the heir-apparent 
could not leave the country without the consent of the King. 
That consent with passionate eagerness he now sought to obtain. 
He based his request on the ground of his heavy debts and his 
wish to retrench. The King, who had heard of his son's infat- 
uation for the "lovely Fitzherbert," did not accede to the Prince's 
prayer, but he affected to temporise, and seized the opportunity 
to demand from the Prince a full statement of his debts, giving 
him"«ko understand that if such a statement were suppKed he 
might liquidate them — an understanding which he had no 
intention of carrying out. 

Thus matters went on for several months, the King keeping 
the Prince in suspense, the Prince pining to get away. All 
this time the unfortunate youth, worried by his pecuniary 
embarrassments, and distracted by his apparently hopeless 
passion, was in a state bordering on unreason. He was one 
who could not keep his sorrows to himself. All his friends, 
especially the Duchess of Devonshire and Fox, were the recip- 
ients of his woes, and they offered him consolation in vain. 
To again quote Lord Holland: "Mrs. Fox [then Mrs. Armit- 
stead], who was living at St. Anne's [Chertsey], has repeatedly 
assured me that he came down thither more than once to con- 
verse with her and Mr. Fox on the subject, that he cried by the 
hour, that he testified to the sincerity and violence of his passion 
and his despair by the most extravagant expressions and actions, 
rolhng on the floor, striking his forehead, tearing his hair, 
falhng into hystericks, and swearing that he would abandon 
the country, forego the crown, sell his jewels and plate, and 
scrape together a competence to fly with the object of his 
affections to America." ^ 

This last must be regarded as an exaggeration of speech, 
for it is certain that the lady would not have fled with him to 
America, even if he had been free to propose it. But the scene 
goes to show that Mrs. Fitzherbert had based her rejection of 

1 "Posthumous Memoirs of the Whig Party," by Lord Holland, 1852. 

2 "Memoirs of the Whig Party," op. cit. 



FLIGHT 37 

her lover's advances on the plea of his position, and not on the 
ground of her indifference, or want of affection. Her heart 
was already his, and she was not following its promptings, but 
considering his interests in removing herself out of his reach. 
If he suffered, she suffered too. It was hard that she should 
be driven into exile, separated from her family and friends, and 
compelled to seek refuge in an obscure foreign town like a 
fugitive hiding from justice. She was fighting a battle between 
her duty and her inclination. Knowing the fickleness ,of men 
in general, and of princes in particular, she thought (though she 
did not in her heart hope) that if she kept away long enough 
her lover would forget her. The Prince of Wales was noto- 
riously changeable, and easily attracted by the "Cynthia cf the 
minute." But in his early devotion to Maria Fitzherbert, in 
all fairness be it said, he showed a constancy, a firmness, and 
a persistency worthy of all praise, and not at all in keeping 
with the fickle character generally attributed to him. There 
is no doubt that his love for her was deep and genuine, and that 
it was the great passion of his life. She was in truth the only 
woman whom he ever really loved. 

Foiled in his attempt to follow Mrs. Fitzherbert, the Prince 
set himself to discover her hiding-place. In this he was more 
successful. He despatched emissaries far and wide, and, aided 
by the Duke of Orleans, he soon discovered where she was 
concealed. Having once found her, he had her shadowed 
wherever she went. Then began a ceaseless correspondence. 
He wrote to her pages and pages of passionate pleadings, of 
heartrending appeals, of prayers for her aid, of threats of self- 
destruction if she remained obdurate — of everything in short 
that could touch or move the heart of a susceptible woman. 
The Prince could write admirable letters when he wished, no 
one better, letters full of grace of phrase and felicity of diction, 
and in these epistles his unrivalled powers of persuasion and 
sophistry came into full play. Whether Mrs. Fitzherbert 
answered his letters or not, or how she answered them, made 
no difference. Whether she moved from Paris to Switzerland, 
or from Switzerland to Lorraine, she was still followed by the 
Prince's emissaries, and by his letters. "Couriers after cour- 
iers," we are told, "passed through France carrying the letters 
and propositions of the Prince to her in France and Switzerland. 



38 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

The Duke of Orleans was the medium of this correspondence. 
The speed of the couriers exciting the suspicions of the French 
Government, three of them were at different times put in 
prison." ^ They were arrested on suspicion of being concerned 
in some political plot, but the Duke of Orleans was soon able 
to make it clear that they were only the messengers of Cupid. 
Otherwise it is possible that Mrs. Fitzherbert might have be- 
come a suspect too. Even the influence of the Duke of Orleans 
did not shield her wholly from the suspicion of political intrigue. 
We find, many years after, her enemies in England declaring 
"that she had been in correspondence in France with the Gros 
Abbe, the bastard brother of the Duke of Orleans, the Abbe 
Taylor and some Irish friars in many parts of Italy. The aim 
of this correspondence was said to be to harass the existing 
administration (Mr. Pitt's) and to pave the way for the intro- 
duction of Catholicism into England." ^ These falsehoods were 
on the face of them absurd. Mrs. Fitzherbert was the last 
woman in the world to proselytise or to concern herself in in- 
trigues, poHtical or ecclesiastical; but to such imputations she 
was exposed by the reckless proceedings of the Prince of Wales. 
Excuse may be found in the violence of the Prince's passion. 
That he was at this time "willing to make any sacrifice" ^ to 
gain her is true, in substance and in fact. As the object of his 
desire would not come to him, his one wish was to go to her. 
He seems to have had it in his mind to offer her a morganatic 
marriage according to the laws of Hanover, and to live quietly 
with her abroad, perhaps in Hanover. He strove to overcome 
his father's obstinacy by promising to reform and retrench if 
he were allowed to go abroad. But the King now met his 
son's demand with an uncompromising refusal. He had played 
with him for months, and obtained a full account of his debts, 
except for one item which the Prince said he was unable to 
account for in detail, pleading that it was "a debt of honour." 
The King seized upon this as an excuse for refusing to pay any 

1 Langdale, op. cit. 

2 " Letter of Nemesis to Alfred," a scurrilous pamphlet published circa 
1789. It was written by the Rev. Philip Wither, who styles himself "Chaplain 
to the Dowager Lady Hereford," but was better known as a writer of political 
pamphlets. He was condemned to imprisonment in Newgate for gross libel, 
and died therein, before his term of imprisonment had expired. 

3 Holland, op. cit. 



FLIGHT 39 

of them, saying that "if it were a debt the Prince was ashamed 
to explain it was one he ought not to pay." ^ The Prince, 
enraged at this treatment, thought he saw in his father's refusal 
an excuse to escape abroad. The King dared him to leave 
the kingdom without his leave, and even taunted him, so the 
Prince afterwards said, with his impotence to reach Mrs. 
Fitzherbert. The King's taunts only made him more desper- 
ate. 

The Prince on April 27, 1785, sent for Sir James Harris, 
who was then in London on leave of absence, and after giving 
him an account of the King's treatment, he declared that in 
the matter of his debts ''he saw no means of rehef left but by 
getting abroad." He asked Harris about The Hague, whether 
he [the Prince] could go there in a private character, and if so 
how he, as the King's representative, would receive him. From 
this it would seem that the Prince knew Mrs. Fitzherbert had 
been in that city, and thought she would shortly be returning 
there. But he did not once mention her name to Harris in 
the curious conversation that followed,^ though it was at the 
back of everything he said. To the Prince's question the 
adroit diplomatist repHed : — 

"I should be very sorry, Sir, to see you in Holland otherwise 
than in a character which would allow me to receive you in a 
manner conformable with the respect and affection I bear your 
Royal Highness; but your coming abroad without your having 
obtained the King's consent implies that you will come after 
it has been refused you, and, you may rest assured, in that case 
I shall receive orders how to act towards you before your arrival; 
and those orders, let them be ever so much in contradiction to 
my feelings, I must obey. 

"Prince. Certainly. I should be the last person to wish 
you to do otherwise. But what am I to do? Am I to be 
refused the right of every individual? Cannot I travel legally, 
as a private man, without the King's consent? 

"Harris. I think it very immaterial for your Royal High- 

1 "Diaries and Correspondence of James Harris, First Earl of Malmesbury," 
1844. 

2 The conversation is quoted in full, only abbreviating some of the speeches 
of the pompous Harris which had nothing to do with the case. Those who 
wish to read it in full will find it in the "Malmesbury Diaries." 



40 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

ness to know whether you can, or cannot, legally travel without 
His Majesty's consent; since it is evident that you cannot with 
any propriety to the public, or satisfaction to yourself, cross 
the seas without it. 

''Prince. Why not? I wish to travel on a plan of econ- 
omy; to be unknown; to live in retirement. 

''Harris. Without entering into the almost impossibility 
of your Royal Highness making so rapid a transition in your 
ways of life, I confess I see no event would give me so much 
pain, as an Englishman, as to see a Prince of Wales abroad 
under such a description. . . . 

"Prince. I feel what you say: but what can I do? The 
King proposed to me to lay by £10,000 a year to pay my debts, 
at a time when, with the strictest economy, my expenses are 
twice my income. I am ruined if I stay in England. I dis- 
grace myself as a man. 

"Harris. Your Royal Highness, give me leave to say, will 
find no relief in travelling the way you propose. You will be 
either slighted, or, what is worse, become the object of political 
intrigue at every court you pass through. . . . 

"Prince. But if I avoid all great courts? If I keep to 
the smaller ones of Germany, can this happen? I may there 
live unnoticed and unknown. 

"Harris. Impossible, Sir. The title of the Earl of Chester 
will be only a mask which covers the Prince of Wales, and, as 
such, your actions will ever be judged. . . . 

"Prince. You think I mean to go to France. I shall keep 
to the Empire, and perhaps to Italy. 

"Harris. What I say applies to all countries, Sir. . . . 

"Prince. But what can I do, my dear Harris? The King 
hates me. He wants to set me at variance with my brother. 
I have no hopes from him. He won't let even Parhament assist 
me till I marry. 

"Harris. But there exists so cordial an affection between 
your Royal Highness and the Duke of York, that I should think 
he might be employed most usefully to reconcile the King to 
your Royal Highness. It cannot be a difficult task when 
.undertaken by a brother. 

"Prince. If he thought it possible, he would come over 
[from Hanover] immediately. He has often expressed his con- 



FLIGHT 41 

cern at our disunion, and declares he never will leave the 
Continent till he can see a prospect of bringing the King to 
enter into my situation. 

''Harris. Surely, Sir, the King could not object to any 
increase of income Parliament thought proper to allow your 
Royal Highness? 

''Prince. I beheve he would. He hates me; he always did, 
from seven years old. 

"Harris. His Majesty may be displeased and dissatisfied 
with your Royal Highness, but surely he cannot hate you ; and 
I am convinced nothing would make both him and the Queen 
so happy as to restore their affections to you. It would be the 
greatest blessing to the nation, and the greatest comfort to the 
Royal Family. 

"Prince. It may be so, but it cannot be. We are too 
wide asunder ever to meet. The King has deceived me, he 
has made me deceive others; I cannot trust him, and he will 
never believe me. 

"Harris. I am sorry your Royal Highness thinks so. But 
I think your Royal Highness should try every possible means 
before you carry into execution your plan of travelling. 

"Prince. I will think it over, but I see no obstacle. We 
will meet again soon." ^ 

After this conversation, Harris, who was honoured with the 
confidence both of the father and the son, tried hard to effect 
a reconcihation between them, and to induce the King to settle 
the Prince's debts, but he underrated the strength of the cross 
currents of personal hatred and pohtical intrigue. Pitt, the 
Prime Minister, who felt that some of the money would be spent 
on pohtical purposes against the Government, refused to do 
anything for the Prince of Wales, unless he would first break 
with Fox and the Opposition. In this attitude he was supported, 
if not instigated, by the King, who added to his hatred of the 
Whigs, jealousy of his eldest son. The Prince knew that he 
could never satisfy his father, do what he would, and he re- 
fused to sacrifice his friends, and humiHate himself in vain. 
Harris, who was still sanguine that he could arrange matters, 
on the strength of certain vague assurances which he had 

1 " Malmesbury Diaries:" My First Conference with the Prince of Wales. 



42 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

received from the King, requested another interview with the 
Prince of Wales, which was granted. 

During the month which had elapsed since his last conver- 
sation with Harris a change had come over the Prince. Per- 
haps Mrs. Fitzherbert had written to him, refusing to hsten to 
him if he came abroad, entreating him for his own sake not to 
come. Or perhaps she even held out the hope if he would 
hearken to her counsels she would return to England. Some- 
thing, it is impossible to say what, must have passed between 
them in the interval, above and beyond the remonstrances of 
the Prince's friends, for when, by appointment, on May 23, 
Harris entered the Prince's dressing-room at Carlton House 
for a second interview, he was greeted with these words : ^ — 

"Prince. If you are come, my dear Harris, to dissuade me 
again from travelhng, let me anticipate your kind intentions by 
telHng you I have dismissed that idea from my mind. I see 
all my other friends, as well as yourself, are against it, and I 
subscribe to their opinion. 

"Harris. I should not have presumed to have mentioned 
that subject again to your Royal Highness; but after what you 
have told me, Sir, allow me to express my infinite satisfaction. 

"Prince. I am glad to have pleased you, at least, if I have 
not pleased myself. Yet I am sure you will be concerned to 
see the distressed and unbecoming light in which I must appear 
by remaining in England. 

"Harris. This had better appear here (admitting it to 
be the case) than to strangers. But, Sir, the purport of my 
troubhng your Royal Highness was to obviate this unpleasant 
circumstance." 

Harris then proceeded to propound his scheme for the 
settlement of the Prince's debts, which, as it came to nothing, 
it is unnecessary to detail here. The Prince Hstened in silence, 
and then said : — 

"I thank you; but it will not do. I tell you the King hates 
me. He would turn out Pitt for entertaining such an idea; 
besides, I cannot abandon Charles and my friends. 

"Harris. Mr. Fox and the Duke of Portland have told 
me often. Sir, that they by no means wish your Royal Highness 

1 The following conversation is also abridged so far as Sir James Harris is 
concerned. 



FLIGHT 43 

to condescend, on their account, to take any share in party 
concerns. They have repeatedly declared that a Prince of 
Wales ought to be of no party. 

'^Prince. Well, but admitting this, and supposing that I 
can get rid of a partiahty in pohtics you seem to condemn, I 
tell you, Harris, the King never will hsten to it. 

^''Harris. But, Sir, I presuppose a reconciliation between 
you and His Majesty. Surely this would be grateful to the 
King himself, and most particularly so to the Queen. 

"Prince. Why, my dear Harris, will you force me to 
repeat to you that the King hates me ? He will never be recon- 
ciled to me. 

"Harris. It cannot be, Sir. If you order me, I will ask 
an audience of him, and fling myself at his feet. 

"Prince. ■ I love you too well to encourage you to undertake 
so useless a commission. If you will not credit me, you will, 
perhaps, credit the King himself. Take and read all our 
correspondence for these last six months. 

"The Prince here opened an escritoire, and took out a large 
bundle of papers, which he read to me. It consisted of various 
letters which had passed between him and the King, beginning 
with the one in which he asked his leave to go abroad in autumn 
1784. 

"It is needless to attempt to relate precisely the contents 
of this correspondence; it is sufficient to observe that the Prince's 
letters were full of respect and deference, written with great 
plainness of style and simplicity. Those of the King were also 
well written, but harsh and severe; constantly refusing every 
request the Prince made, and reprobating in each of them his 
extravagance and dissipated manner of living. They were void 
of every expression of parental kindness or affection; and, after 
both hearing them read, and perusing them myself, I was 
compelled to subscribe to the Prince's opinion, and to confess 
there was very little appearance of making any impression on 
His Majesty in favour of His Royal Highness. I resumed, 
however, the conversation as follows : — 

'^Harris. I am hurt to a degree. Sir, at what I have read. 
But still. Sir, the Queen must have a reconciliation so much at 
heart, that, through her and your sisters, it surely might be effected. 

"Prince. Look ye, Harris; I cannot bring myself to say 



44 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

I am in the wrong when I am in the right. The King has used 
me ill; and I wish the public knew what you now know, and 
was to pronounce between us. 

"Harris. I should be very sorry, indeed, Sir, if this was 
known beyond these walls ; for I am much mistaken if the public 
would not pronounce a judgment widely different from that you 
think. 

"Prince. This is a cruel truth, if it be true what you say; 
but it is of no use to investigate it ; my case never will go to that 
tribunal. 

"Harris. May I suggest, Sir, the idea of your marrying? 
It would, I should think, be most agreeable to the King, and, 
I am certain, most grateful to the nation. 

"Prince {with vehemence). I never will marry! My reso- 
lution is taken on that subject. I have settled it with Frederick. 
No, I never will marry! 

"Harris. Give me leave to say. Sir, most respectfully, that 
you cannot have really come to such a resolution; and you must 
marry. Sir. You owe it to the country, to the King, to yourself. 

"Prince. I owe nothing to the King. Frederick will 
marry, and the crown will descend to his children; and as for 
myself, I do not see how it affects me. 

"Harris. Till you are married, Sir, and have children, 
you have no solid hold on the affections of the people, even 
while you are Prince of Wales; but if you come to the throne a 
bachelor, and His Royal Highness the Duke of York is married, 
and has sons to succeed you, your situation, when King, will be 
more painful than it is at this moment. Our own history 
furnishes strong examples of the truth of what I say. 

"The Prince was greatly struck with this observation. He 
walked about the room, apparently angry. I moved towards 
the door, saying, 'I perceive, Sir, I have said too much: you 
will allow me to withdraw. I am sure I shall be forgiven an 
hour hence.' 

"Prince. You are forgiven now, my dear Harris. I am 
angry with myself, not with you. Don't question me any more. 
I will think of what you said. Adieu. God bless you." ^ 

The most remarkable passage in this conversation was the 

1 "Malmesbury Diaries": My Second Conference with the Prince of Wales. 



FLIGHT 



45 



Prince's vehement declaration that he would never marry, and 
that he had "settled it with Frederick." By this he meant 
that he would never make a marriage of poHcy after the manner 
of princes, or a marriage in accordance with the terms of his 
father's recently passed Royal Marriage Act, and he made this 
declaration, be it noted, at a time when not only the King and 
the Government, but also his poHtical and personal friends, 
were agreed in urging him to contract such an alliance. His 
declaration shows that he had by this time fully determined to 
offer Mrs. Fitzherbert such a marriage as it was in his power 
to offer her — a marriage which the law of England would 
treat as illegal, and which in Hanover would be regarded as 
morganatic — that is to say, though recognised as a marriage, 
it would not give the wife the rank of her husband.^ The 
Prince had this in mind when he said "Frederick will marry, 
and the crown will descend to his children," for he knew that 
if he had any children by his contemplated marriage with Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, they would be deemed incapable of succeeding to 
the throne of England, and would be treated as infantes nullius, 
or dead in law.^ 

Harris did not realise the full force of the Prince's words at 
the time. He was astonished at the summary rejection of his 
well-meant efforts; but later, when the rumour of the Prince's 
marriage to Mrs. Fitzherbert reached his ears, it became clear 
to him that the idea was in the Prince's mind when he spoke 
with him, and that Mrs. Fitzherbert was "the great obstacle 
in the way of his accepting my proposal." ^ 

All this time Mrs. Fitzherbert remained in Lorraine, shad- 
owed by the Prince's spies, and the recipient of his continued 
letters. Still she tried, with a force ever growing feebler, to 
fight off his assault. But she was getting tired of her self- 
imposed exile, and presently an incident occurred which con- 
vinced her that it was impossible for this state of affairs to 
continue indefinitely. 

1 Such a marriage was that of his ancestor, Duke George William of Celle, 
with Eleanore d'Olbreuse, mother of Sophia Dorothea. 

^ What their claims might have been to the crown of Hanover need not be 
discussed here, as none were born. 

3 The Prince wrote later (1799) to Mrs. Fitzherbert that Harris had been 
informed by him "of every, even the minutest, circumstance of our marriage." 



46 , MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Despite the strict retirement in which she Hved she became 
the object of the attentions of the notorious Marquis de Bellois, 
who offered her marriage. The Marquis was one of the hand- 
somest men in France, and one of the most pohshed and accom- 
phshed scoundrels in Europe. The young Enghsh widow, 
beautiful, well-connected and well-dowered, was a fair mark 
for a needy French nobleman. She refused him in the most 
uncompromising manner, and when, despite her refusal, he 
continued to urge his suit, she left Plombiers for Paris. She 
had fled from England to protect her reputation, but this affair 
showed her that she had only escaped one danger to encounter 
another. She was too young and too beautiful a woman to 
continue to live alone and unprotected in a foreign country, 
away from her family and her friends. That she had lived 
abroad all these months, surrounded by an atmosphere of 
secrecy, was no fault of her own, but it served to whet the tongue 
of scandal. Why all this mystery, people asked, unless there 
was something wrong? She had done nothing to be ashamed 
of, yet she could not explain her position without compromising 
others. Besides, her explanation would be received with 
scornful incredulity by the gay world of Paris and of London, 
who would neither understand nor respect her scruples. More- 
over, she was of a temperament which could not bear to live 
alone. Though not devoted to pleasure, she was fond of 
society and amusement, and enjoyed the companionship of her 
friends. She reflected also that, so far, her object in going 
abroad had signally failed, for time and distance only seemed 
to make the Prince more eager. Herein may be found the 
first hint of her yielding. 

It is impossible to sketch accurately the combination of 
circumstances by which, little by little, Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
resistance was beaten down. She began to hesitate, and hesi- 
tating was lost. "Wrought upon and fearful," she was first 
"induced to promise formally and deliberately that she would 
never marry any other person." ^ From promising to marry 
no one but the Prince, to promising to marry him was only a 
step. But before taking it she stipulated for conditions which 
would satisfy her conscience. The Prince, who had no con- 

1 Langdale, op. cii. 



FLIGHT 47 

science at all where his desires were concerned, was willing to 
grant her everything in his power. She had not been satisfied 
with the grotesque ceremony at Carlton House, then he would 
offer her a real marriage, as real as he could make it, one that 
would satisfy her scruples and meet the requirements of her 
Church. More than that she did not ask, and more than that 
he could not give, for the Royal Marriage Act lay athwart their 
path. She knew of this Act as well as he, and with him was 
willing to risk the danger of violating it, but still she hesitated. 
She was unwilling to encourage this prodigal son into a flagrant 
act of disobedience to the wishes of his father. The Prince was 
ready to meet this scruple, as he had met the others, by his 
sophistry which never failed. In a letter of abnormal length 
(thirty-seven pages), ^ for he was always a man of many words, 
he assured her that "his father would connive at the union." 
This of course was not true, but perhaps the Prince persuaded* 
himself that it was, for he had extraordinary powers of self- 
deception. It is impossible to believe that the King would 
have connived at the violation of the Act which he had forced 
through Parhament only thirteen years before, framed to 
prevent just such a marriage as this. He was a conscientious 
man, and would not have thus stultified himself. But with the 
Prince of Wales it was a settled conviction that his father hated 
him, and would gladly have seen him supplanted by his younger 
brother, the Duke of York. "I have settled it all with Fred- 
erick," he told Harris; "Frederick will marry, and the crown 
will descend to his children." The Prince may have thought 
that the King would wink at his irregular and morganatic 
marriage in order to bring about such a consummation. 

But whether the Prince beheved what he wrote or not, his 
word was all-sufficient for Mrs. Fitzherbert. The time had not 
come when she had learned to lament his fatal disregard of 
truth. She believed impHcitly all he told her, and all his prom- 
ises and vows. She could no longer doubt the sincerity of his 
love. He had endured a long and cruel probation; she had 
kept away from him, and had resisted all his prayers and 
importunities, for more than a year, and yet at the end of the 
period his love for her was unchanged. He had answers for 

1 Lord Stourton says that Mrs. Fitzherbert showed him this letter "entirely 
in the handwriting of the Prince." 



48 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

all her objections, he granted all her stipulations, he was wiUing 
to risk everything for her sake. She could not change her 
rehgion, and therefore the Prince, by marrying a Roman Cathohc 
(even though the marriage might be illegal), ran the risk of 
forfeiting his right of succession to the crown.^ It v^as said 
that Mrs. Fitzherbert did not reahse this until later, but she 
knew, none better, the strong prejudice against Roman Catholics 
in England. She knew, too, how much the Prince would 
damage his popularity by allying himself intimately with one 
of her faith, even though the connection were to the world not 
an honourable one. How much greater, then, would be the 
outcry if their secret marriage ever became known? It was 
largely for this reason that she had withstood him so long; but 
since he was willing to take the risk for her sake, she was not 
the woman to deny him from fear of the consequences to 
•herself. And so, at last, worn out with his pleading, and moved 
by the chivalry of his devotion, she threw down her arms, and 
promised to return to England and become his wife. It was 
no hasty, ill-considered action, for she saw, we are told, "clearly 
and justly that she was about to plunge into inextricable diffi- 
culties; but having insisted upon conditions, such as would 
satisfy her conscience and justify her in the eyes of her own 
Church, she abandoned herself to her fate." ^ Once she sur- 
rendered she knew no half measures; she might have extracted 
any terms she pleased from the infatuated Prince, but with a 
rare disinterestedness, she asked for nothing beyond the one 
condition demanded by her conscience and her Church. She 
left everything else to the honour of the man to whom she was 
henceforth to devote her life. 

It will always be an enigma what induced a woman of 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's temperament and character to yield at the 
last. What led this pure and proud woman, with her definite 
ideas of right and wrong, to consent to an act which, if not 
wrong in itself, was at least capable of wrongful interpretation ? 
But one thing at least is clear. Her motives were not interested. 
Perhaps she persuaded herself that she must make the sacrifice 
for his sake ; perhaps she deluded herself that she was necessary 
to him — this headstrong, passionate, lovable youth, whose 

1 Section IX. of the Act of Settlement, 1689. 

2 Langdale, op. cit. 



FLIGHT 49 

faults appeared to be all on the surface, and who was his own 
worst enemy. Perhaps she conceived it was her mission to 
rescue him from his evil advisers, and make him worthy of the 
high position which he was one day destined to fill. It may be, 
too, that her heart now spoke for the first time. She had been 
twice married before to men years older than herself, and these 
marriages were probably arranged for her by others; the union 
she now contemplated was not a marriage of convenience but 
of pure romance. There were in this adventure all the elements 
of romance, of secrecy, and of danger. A Prince, young and 
handsome as an Apollo, a lover passionate and ardent, laid his 
heart at her feet. She would have been less a woman had she 
spurned it. She was weary of her self-imposed exile, weary of 
the loneliness of her hfe. There had come to her that hunger 
that comes sooner or later to every man and woman, the desire 
to take happiness with both hands, and count the world well 
lost — the desire to know, even though it be for one brief hour, 
the heart of Hfe. And this it may be claimed for Maria Fitz- 
herbert, that despite all the suffering and disappointment of 
after years she at least had her hour. 

Thus it follows that, after all, the simplest explanation of 
her yielding is the truest. She yielded because she loved him. 



CHAPTER V 

SURRENDER 

(1785) 

Mrs. Fitzherbert returned to England the first week of 
December 1785, after an exile of more than a year's duration. 
She travelled through to London, and went to her house in 
Park Street. It is said, on questionable authority, that the 
Prince of Wales went to Paris incognito and had an interview 
with Mrs. Fitzherbert, with the result that she consented to 
accompany him back to England.^ It is unHkely that this took 
place, but it is probable that he went down to Dover to meet 
her, and escorted her to London, which would account for the 
rumour. Care was taken to prevent her return becoming 
known, but, before long, every one interested knew that she 
had come back. The Prince's household suspected that some- 
thing unusual was taking place. There was an air of suppressed 
excitement about everything the Prince said and did which 
could not pass unnoticed, and when it became known that 
Mrs. Fitzherbert had returned from abroad, all in his immediate 
service felt that the state of uncertainty and unrest in which he 
had lived for the last year was nearing its end. There was not 
one of the Prince's real friends who did not contemplate with 
alarm the possibiHty of such a marriage, but the Prince was 
surrounded by parasites and flatterers, who were ready to aid 
and abet him on a course imprudent for himself and disastrous 
for the woman he loved. Others there were of his boon com- 
panions, reckless young "bloods," ever ready for an affair of 
gallantry, who, seeing that he was not to be dissuaded, fell in 
with his mood. 

The Prince was not one who could keep a secret, and in 

1 Another rumour was that he had crossed from Brighton to Dieppe in the 
summer. Mrs. Fitzherbert met him there, and he had come to an arrangement 
with her then. 

5° 




GEORGE, PRINCE OF WALES, AS "FLORIZEL" 
{After the Fainti7ig by Gkorgf, Cosway, R.A.) 



SURRENDER 



51 



this case he had to take two or three persons into his confidence, 
in order to make arrangements for his marriage. Though 
silence is a word written large over the gates of palaces, a secret 
which is known to two or three persons is soon a secret no 
longer. It is probable that some well-wisher of the Prince, 
who was in his confidence, so far betrayed him as to communi- 
cate with Fox, and urge him to do what he could to persuade 
the Prince from marrying Mrs. Fitzherbert. Fox was one of 
the first to hear of Mrs. Fitzherbert's arrival in London, and 
he regarded the news as serious. He knew from the Prince 
himself of his reckless passion and her prolonged resistance, 
and he felt that she would not have returned to England unless 
a way had been found to overcome her scruples. Moreover, 
the fact that the Prince had lately avoided him lent weight to 
his suspicions, that marriage and nothing else was in the Prince's 
mind. He resolved to make an effort to prevent such an act 
of folly, and without delay wrote the following letter : — 

The Right Hon. C. J. Fox, M.P., to H.R.H. 

the Prmce of Wales. 

"Dec. 10, 1785. 

"Sm, — I hope that your Royal Highness does me the 
justice to believe that it is with the utmost reluctance that I 
trouble you with my opinion unasked at any time, much more 
so upon a subject where it may not be agreeable to your wishes. 
I am sure that nothing could ever make me take this liberty, 
but the condescension which you have honoured me with upon 
so many occasions, and the zealous and grateful attachment 
that I feel for your Royal Highness, and which makes me run 
the risk even of displeasing you for the purpose of doing you a 
real service. 

"I was told just before I left town yesterday, that Mrs. 
Fitzherbert was arrived; and if I had heard only this, I should 
have felt most unfeigned joy at an event which I knew would 
contribute so much to your Royal Highness's satisfaction; but 
I was told at the same time, that from a variety of circumstances 
which had been observed and put together, there was reason 
to suppose that you were going to take the very desperate step 
(pardon the expression) of marrying her at this moment. If 
such an idea be really in your mind, and it be not now too late, 



52 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

for God's sake let me call your attention to some considerations, 
which my attachment to your Royal Highness, and the real 
concern which I take in whatever relates to your interest, have 
suggested to me, and which may possibly have the more weight 
with you when you perceive that Mrs. Fitzherbert is equally 
interested in most of them with yourself. 

"In the first place, you are aware that a marriage with a 
Catholic throws the Prince contracting such a marriage out of 
the succession of the Crown.^ Now, what change may have 
happened in Mrs. Fitzherbert's sentiments upon religious 
matters I know not; but I do not understand that any public 
profession of change has been made: and surely. Sir, this is 
not a matter to be trifled with ; and your Royal Highness must 
excuse the extreme freedom with which I write. If there should 
be a doubt about her previous conversion,^ consider the circum- 
stances in which you stand; the King not feeling for you as 
a father ought, the Duke of York professedly his favourite, and 
likely to be married agreeably to the King's wishes; the nation 
full of its old prejudices against Cathohcks, and justly dreading 
all disputes about succession. In all these circumstances your 
enemies might take such advantage as I shudder to think of; 
and though your generosity might think no sacrifice too great 
to be made to a person whom you love so entirely, consider 
what her reflections must be in such an event, and how impos- 
sible it would be for her ever to forgive herself. 

"I have stated this danger upon the supposition that the 
marriage would be a real one; but your Royal Highness knows 
as well as I, that according to the present laws of the country 
it cannot; ^ and I need not point out to your good sense what a 
source of uneasiness it hiust be to you, to her, and above all 
to the nation, to have it a matter of dispute and discussion, 
whether the Prince of Wales is, or is not, married. All specu- 
lations on the feelings of the publick are uncertain; but I doubt 
much whether an uncertainty of this kind, by keeping men's 

^ Vide Section IX. of the Act of 1689. "An Act for declaring the rights and 
liberties of the subject, and setthng the succession to the Crown." 

2 i.e. to the Church of England. But Mrs. Fitzherbert had not been "con- 
verted." 

3 Fox here alludes to the Royal Marriage Act of 1772, which prevented the 
Prince from marrying before the age of twenty-fiive without the consent of the 
King. 



SURRENDER 53 

minds in perpetual agitation upon a matter of this moment, 
might not cause a greater ferment than any other possible situa- 
tion. If there should be children from the marriage, I need 
not say how much the uneasiness (as well of yourself as of the 
nation) must be aggravated. If anything could add to the 
weight of these considerations, it is the impossibility of remedy- 
ing the mischiefs I have alluded to ; for if your Royal Highness 
should think proper, when you are twenty-five years old, to 
notify to Parhament your intention to marry (bv which means 
alone a legal marriage can be contracted), in what manner can 
it be notified ? If the previous marriage is mentioned or owned, 
will it not be said that you have set at defiance the laws of 
your country; and that you now come to Parliament for a sanc- 
tion for what you have already done in contempt of it? If 
there are children, will it not be said that we must look for 
future applications to legitimate them, and consequently be 
liable to disputes for the succession between the eldest son, and 
the eldest son ajter the legal marriage? And will not the 
entire annulling of the whole marriage be suggested as the 
most secure way of preventing all such disputes? If the mar- 
riage is not mentioned to Parliament, but yet is known to have 
been solemnised, as it certainly will be known, if it takes place, 
these are the consequences — First, that at all events any child 
born in the interim is immediately illegitimated; and next, that 
arguments will be drawn from the circumstances of the concealed 
marriage against the pubhck one. It will be said, that a woman 
who has lived with you as your wife without being so, is not 
fit to be Queen of England ; ^ and thus the very thing that is 
done for the sake of her reputation will be used against it : and 
what would make this worse would be, the marriage being 
known (though not officially communicated to Parhament), it 
would be impossible to deny the assertion ; whereas, ij there was 
no marriage, I conclude your intercourse would be carried on 
as it ought, in so private a way as to make it wholly inconsistent 
with decency or propriety for any one in publick to hazard such 
a suggestion. If, in consequence of your notification, steps 
should be taken in Parliament, and an Act passed (which, 

1 This is outside the argument. There never was any question of Mrs. 
Fitzherbert becoming Queen of England. She might have become Queen of 
Hanover, but never Queen of England without a repeal of the Act of Settlement. 



54 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

considering the present state of the power of the King and 
Ministry, is more than probable) to prevent your marriage, 
you will be reduced to the most difiScult of all dilemmas with 
respect to the footing upon which your marriage is to stand 
for the future; and your children will be born to pretensions 
which must make their situation unhappy, if not dangerous. 
Their situations appear to me of all others the most to be 
pitied; and the more so, because the more indications persons 
born in such circumstances give of spirit, talents, or anything 
that is good, the more will they be suspected and oppressed, 
and the more will they regret the being deprived of what they 
must naturally think themselves entitled to. 

"I could mention many other considerations upon this 
business, if I did not think those I have stated of so much 
importance, that smaller ones would divert your attention from 
them rather than add to their weight. That I have written 
with a freedom which on any other occasion would be unbe- 
coming, I readily confess; and nothing would have induced me 
to do it, but a deep sense of my duty to a Prince who has hon- 
oured me with so much of his confidence, and who would have 
but an ill return for all his favour and goodness to me, if I 
were to avoid speaking truth to him, however disagreeable, at 
so critical a juncture. The sum of my humble advice, nay, 
of my most earnest entreaty, is this — that your Royal Highness 
would not think of marrying till you can marry legally. When 
that time comes, you must judge for yourself; and no doubt 
you will take into consideration, both what is due to private 
honour and your pubhck station. In the meanwhile, a mock 
marriage (for it can be no other) is neither honourable for any 
of the parties, nor, with respect to your Royal Highness, even 
safe. This appears so clear to me, that, if I were Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert's father or brother, I would advise her not by any 
means to agree to it, and to prefer any other species of connection 
•with you to one leading to so much misery and mischief} 

"It is high time I should finish this very long and, perhaps 
your Royal Highness will think, ill-timed letter; but such as it 
is, it is dictated by pure zeal and attachment to your Royal 
Highness. With respect to Mrs. Fitzherbert, she is a person 

1 Lord Russell in his "Life of Fox" most disingenuously omits the words in 
italics from the letter, which he otherwise quotes in full. 



SURRENDER 55 

with whom I have scarcely the honour of being acquainted, but 
I hear from everybody that her character is irreproachable and 
her manners most amiable. Your Royal Highness knows, too, 
that I have not in my mind the same objection to intermarriages 
with Princes and subjects which many have.^ But under the 
circumstances a marriage at present appears to me to be the 
most desperate measure for all parties concerned that their 
worst enemies could have suggested." ^ 

This, it must be admitted, is, as a whole, a temperate and 
well-reasoned letter, worthy of the writer, and worthy of con- 
sideration from the recipient. But the cynical suggestion, "If 
I were Mrs. Fitzherbert's father or brother I would advise her 
not by any means to agree to it (the marriage), and to prefer 
any other species of connection with you to one leading to so 
much misery and mischief," is the weak link in the chain of 
argument which weakens all the rest. If we take into account 
the laxity of the period, it was not an unusual sentiment to 
come from a free-thinking man of the world, who, at the time 
he wrote it, was living openly in a "species of connection" with 
a woman who was not his wife. But it shows that Fox, with all 
his shrewdness and worldly wisdom, was incapable of under- 
standing a woman of the type of Mrs. Fitzherbert. Neither 
could he enter into her religious scruples, or reahse that what 
he called a "mock marriage" (it was undoubtedly illegal) 
would be a valid marriage in her sight, and valid according to 
the doctrine of the Church to which she belonged. "Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert," says Mr. Langdale, "was a Cathohc, and educated 
in the principles of the Catholic religion, whose doctrine can 
admit no difference between a prince and a peasant, condemning 
alike the criminal indulgences of either, and maintaining in 
both the indissoluble sacredness of the marriage contract." ^ 
These considerations meant nothing to Fox. Yet it is not 

1 Fox had strongly opposed the Royal Marriage Act. 

2 This letter, together with the Prince's answer thereto, is quoted from the 
"Memoirs of the Whig Party," by Lord Holland, 1854. Lord Holland says, 
"The above rough draft of the letter which, though without signature, is all, 
excepting the date, in Fox's own handwriting, was found among his papers 
(after his death), together with the answer, written, dated, and signed by the 
Prince of Wales." 

3 Langdale, op. cit. 



56 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

necessary to be a man of strict morality to realise that they 
would be vital to a virtuous woman. Herein, we take it, hes 
the difference between Fox and the Prince. To Fox every 
woman was "at heart a rake," but the Prince knew better, and 
realised that between the woman whom he wished to make 
his wife and "those others" there was an impassable gulf. 

It was perhaps this obliquity of moral vision which ac- 
counted for Fox's readiness to swallow the ghb denial, or rather 
evasion, which the Prince sent him the following day. It was 
much easier, more natural, for him to believe that Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert had yielded at discretion, than that the Prince had 
agreed to her stipulation of a marriage. In view of what hap- 
pened later, the Prince's answer to Fox's letter is very important, 
as it is probably the only direct communication that Fox ever 
received from the Prince on the subject. 

H.R.H. the Prince of Wales to the Right Hon. 
C. J. Fox, M.P. 

"My dear Charles, — Your letter of last night afforded 
me more satisfaction than I can find words to express; as it is 
an additional proof to me (which, I assure you, I did not want) 
of your having that true regard and affection for me which it 
is not only the wish but the ambition of my life to merit. Make 
yourself easy, my dear friend. Believe me, the world will soon 
be convinced that there not only is,^ but never was, any ground 
for these reports, which of late have been so malevolently cir- 
culated. I have not seen you since the apostacy of Eden.^ 
I think it ought to have the same effect upon all our friends 
that it has upon me, I mean the linking us closer to each other; 
and I beUeve you will easily beheve these to be my senti- 
ments; for you are perfectly well acquainted with my ways 
of thinking upon these (sic) sort of subjects. When I say 
my ways of thinking, I think I had better say my old maxim, 
which I ever intend to adhere to; I mean that of swimming 
or sinking with my friends. I have not time to add much 
more, except just to say that I believe I shall meet you at 

' The Prince meant to say "there not only is iiot." 

2 Mr. Eden, afterwards Lord Auckland, seceded from the Whigs and joined 
the Tories at this time. 



SURRENDER 



57 



dinner at Bushey ^ on Tuesday; and to desire you to believe 
me at all times, my dear Charles, most affectionately yours, 

"George P." 

"Carlton House, 
Sunday morning, 2 o^clock, 
December 11, 1785." 

It is impossible to acquit the Prince of the intention to 
deceive Fox by this disingenuous epistle. Not only was his 
marriage already decided upon, but at the very hour he wrote 
arrangements for the ceremony were being hurriedly pressed 
forward. Perhaps the Prince, to whom sophistry and equivo- 
cation were second nature, justified himself by the quibble that 
as the marriage had not yet taken place he could still deny it 
by implication. For, be it noted, he makes no direct allusion 
to it, he only denies generally "these reports which of late have 
been so malevolently circulated." As a great many of the 
reports then current were false and exaggerated, the Prince 
was safe in denying them. Yet if Fox had studied the letter 
carefully then (as he doubtless studied it later) he would have 
seen that the Prince only evaded the point. He might also 
have read between the hnes how embarrassing the subject was, 
for the Prince hastily escapes from it to "the apostacy of Eden," 
of which Fox had said nothing. He might have remembered, 
too, the Prince's notorious disregard of truth. But people are 
always ready to believe what they wish to believe, and Fox, 
having received a document which would not only exonerate 
him from any knowledge of the marriage, but would also enable 
him to deny it with authority if occasion arose, washed his 
hands of the business. The Prince, we may be sure, did not 
reopen the subject with Fox, nor did he mention this corre- 
spondence to Mrs. Fitzherbert, either then or at any future 
time. Had she seen Fox's letter to the Prince, coming from a 
man of his private reputation and pohtical position, it might, 
even at the eleventh hour, have made her pause, for it would 
have shown her clearly not only the risks the Prince ran, but 
how she herself would be regarded by a censorious world. 

One would have thought that Mrs. Fitzherbert's "male 

J Lord North, who was a friend of both Fox and the Prince of Wales, was 
then living at Bushey. But there is no record that the dinner ever took place. 



58 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

relatives," to whom Fox alludes, would have advised her against 
the marriage. But they had been won over to the Prince's 
side. Her two elder brothers, Watt and Jack Smythe, were 
hot-headed, impulsive youths, lately thrown upon the town. 
That they should have been over-persuaded by the Prince is 
not astonishing, especially as he vowed, by all that was holy, 
that he held their sister in highest honour. The sons of a Roman 
Catholic country squire, bred up in the seclusion then conse- 
quent on their faith, they were flattered, not unnaturally, by 
the notice of the most accomplished Prince of his age, and 
they were dazzled by the prospect held out of future favours 
arising from the brilliant alhance. They neither realised, 
nor recked, the dangers of such a connection to their sister. 
But her uncle, Mr. Errington, should have been wiser. He 
was a man of the world, of means and of position: he had 
stood in the place of guardian to his niece since her father 
had become a hopeless invalid. He must have realised that, 
in the long run, such a union could not make for Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's happiness. He, a prominent Roman Catholic 
layman, must have known that the marriage was illegal, and 
that the illegahty was comphcated by the fact of his niece's 
rehgion. True, at first he remonstrated with her, but she 
would not listen; and when he had satisfied himself that 
there was to be a marriage ceremony fulfilhng the require- 
ments of his Church, he let things take their course. After 
all, his niece was a woman of twenty-nine years of age, who 
had been twice a widow. The family honour had been satis- 
fied, for the rest she must take care of herself. He even lent 
himself to helping the marriage forward, for he promised Mrs. 
Fitzherbert that he and one of her brothers should be present 
at the ceremony to see that everything was done regularly and 
in due order. 

■" Thus one difficulty was surmounted. But there remained 
another, not so easily overcome. A marriage such as Mrs. 
Fitzherbert insisted upon, a real marriage as opposed to the 
sham ceremony at Carlton House, involved not only witnesses, 
but an officiating clergyman. On the surface it would seem 
that the simplest way to satisfy her scruples would be for the 
ceremony to be performed secretly by a Roman Catholic priest 
according to the rites of the Church of Rome, customary in 



SURRENDER 59 

what are known as "mixed marriages" — the marriage of a 
Roman CathoHc with a baptized Christian, whether Greek or 
Anglican, or belonging to one of the Protestant sects. But 
according to the law of England at that time it was a serious 
offence for a Roman Catholic priest to celebrate a marriage 
between one of his faith and a member of the Church of England. 
Such marriages had to be performed by a clergyman of the 
Established Church if they were to be regarded as legal, and 
so the law continued until the second ReHef Act of 1791. Until 
then, even marriages between two Roman Cathohcs had to be 
solemnised by a clergyman of the Estabhshed Church if they 
were to be legally binding. Mrs. Fitzherbert may therefore 
have stipulated for the presence of a clergyman of the Estab- 
hshed Church, as an additional guarantee of the regularity 
(though not of the validity) of the marriage. But it is more 
probable that the Prince of Wales was averse to a secret mar- 
riage by a Roman Catholic priest, because, if it ever became 
known, such an act might be regarded by zealous Protestants 
as an act of communion with the Church of Rome on the part 
of the heir-apparent. It was therefore a sine qud non that the 
marriage should be performed by a clergyman of the Church 
of England. The difficulty arose in finding one wilHng to 
perform the ceremony. 

According to the Royal Marriage Act of 1772 a clergyman 
solemnising such a marriage would be committing an illegal 
act, and exposing himself to the penalties of premunire, whatever 
they might be — in olden days death, then probably confiscation 
of property and transportation beyond the seas. Some clergy- 
men might be found to argue that an act of parhament tampering 
with the marriage law was not binding on the Church, since it 
was carried without consulting Convocation. The Canon Law 
of the Church of England remained the same whatever Parlia- 
ment might do, and thus a clergyman need have no scruple 
about performing the marriage ceremony. But the difficulty- 
was complicated by the fact of the woman being a Roman 
Catholic and the man the heir apparent to the throne. No 
conscientious clergyman of the Established Church, even the 
most liberal-minded, could upon reflection consider that, in 
the existing state of public feeling, it would be a wise or seemly 
thing for the Prince of Wales to set at defiance the law by which 



6o MRS. FITZHERBERT 

the House of Hanover succeeded to the EngHsh throne, and 
espouse a Roman CathoHc. 

There were of course unscrupulous and venal clergymen, 
and to these Colonel Gardner, the Prince's private secretary, 
to whom was entrusted the task of finding a clergyman, went 
first. He, true to his instinct, sought one of the type of the 
notorious Parson Keith and the Chaplain of the Fleet. He 
first made apphcation to the Rev. Phihp Rosenhagen, a dis- 
reputable mihtary chaplain, who, being a clever and cunning 
scoundrel, had made his way into the Prince's society. Rosen- 
hagen was a friend of Sir Philip Francis, and at his death in 
1799 he left him his papers, which included certain letters 
relating to the marriage of the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert. Lady Francis gives the following account of them : — 

"Colonel Gardner, the Prince's private secretary, writes the 
first letter, asking R. to perform the ceremony. R. replies that 
it would be contrary to the law for him to do so, and, if done, 
would be productive of important, probably disastrous, conse- 
quences to the whole nation. The Colonel answers that the 
Prince is aware of all that, but pledges himself to keep the 
matter a profound secret, and that the Prince will feel bound 
to reward R. for such a proof of his attachment, as soon as the 
means are in his power. Rosenhagen in reply says that he 
can trust implicitly the Prince's promise of secrecy, but he dare 
not betray the duty he owes to the Prince, by assisting in an 
affair that might bring such serious consequences to him." 
Lady Francis says there were six letters, and she "beheves 
Rosenhagen declined the business because no specific offer was 
made to him, and not from the motive stated in the letters, as 
he was daring and unscrupulous." ^ 

Application was next made to a clergyman of a very different 
type, the Rev. Johnes Knight, Rector of Welwyn in Hertford- 
shire, and who also, after the pluralist fashion of those days, 
held a city living. "Parson Johnes," as he was called, was a 
jovial divine of the old school. He was a man of ample private 
means, a judge of good port, and a keen sportsman. He was 
inore of the squire than the parson, and though he was a scholar, 
and had the advantages of wealth and good connections, yet he 

1 "Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis, K.C.B., with Correspondence and Jour- 
nals," 1867. 




MRS. FITZHERBERT 
{After the Fainting by G-E-O^GK CoswAY, R.A.) 



SURRENDER 6i 

did not seek preferment in the Church, but preferred his inde- 
pendence, which he might have had to sacrifice on promotion. 
He had known the Prince of Wales "since he was a child in 
frocks," ^ and was sincerely attached to him. Parson Johnes 
had a good many friends in high places. He often posted up 
to London to look after his city church, see his friends, and 
dine at his favourite haunts. On one of these occasions he 
paid a visit to Lord North at Bushey,^ and it was while he was 
staying there that he was approached on the subject of marrying 
Mrs. Fitzherbert to the Prince. The story is best told in his 
own words. This is fortunately possible by giving the following 
letter which Mr. Johnes Knight wrote to his daughter Louisa, 
Lady Shelley, forty-five years later, four months after the death 
of George IV. : ^ — 

The Reverend S. Johnes Knight to Lady Shelley. 

"Henley Hall, September 28, 1830. 

" My dearest Daughter, — To please you I will try to 
recollect my part in the transaction of the marriage of the late 
King George IV., when Prince of Wales, with Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

"In the month of December 1785 I was staying with Lord 
North at Bushey Park. At that time there were only his own 
family with him. We were playing at some round game on 
one of those evenings, when, about nine o'clock, a letter was 
brought to me from the Prince, in which he commanded me to 
come directly to a supper at Carlton House. By Lord North's 
advice I instantly set off for London; and I believe his Lordship 
thought something more was intended for me than a mere 
supper, since Lady Glenbervie * told me her father desired 
they would never mention this letter of the Prince. 

"On my arrival at Carlton House, a letter was dehvered to 

1 Hie et uhique, by Sir William Fraser. 

2 Frederick North, second Earl of Guilford, better known as Lord North 
(i 732-1 792), sometime Prime Minister. 

^ The Rev. Johnes Knight lived to be nearly a hundred years of age, and 
his memory was excellent until within a few years of his death. The following 
letter was lent to me, for the purpose of publication in this book, by a relative 
of his daughter, the late Lady Shelley. I give the letter, now published for the 
first time, in full. 

^ Catherine Anna, daughter of Lord North, second Earl of Guilford (1760- 
1817), married first Baron Glenbervie. 



62 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

me from Edward Bouverie to say that the party was put off, 
and that the Prince expected to see me at an early hour the 
next morning. It was now eleven o'clock, and I proceeded to 
the 'Mount' coffee house in Lower Grosvenor Street to get 
some supper. Here I chanced to meet with Colonel Lake 
(created Lord Lake),^ and we supped together. In the course 
of conversation we talked of the Prince's attachment to Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, and Lake said that he was almost certain the 
Prince intended to marry Mrs. Fitzherbert, but that he trusted 
no clergyman would be found to perform the ceremony. To 
this I cordially agreed, and I went home to Stratford Place, 
where my mother resided. 

"The next morning I was admitted into the Prince's dressing- 
room at Carlton House, and the Prince very soon came to me 
in his dressing-gown, appearing to have just got out of bed. 
He began by apologising for bringing me from Bushey Park, 
and then, in that persuasive language he knew so well how to 
employ, he detailed his long love for Mrs. Fitzherbert, the 
misery he had endured, the taunts he had received from the 
King in consequence of its having been suspected that the 
Prince, in the course of the last summer, had gone from Brighton 
to the French coast to visit Mrs. Fitzherbert. As a proof of 
his passion he then drew up his shirt, and showed a scar on his 
side, which the Prince said was caused by his falling on his 
sword that he might end his life with his hopeless love.^ The 
Prince then spoke of his determination to repeal the Royal 
Marriage Act the instant he came to the Throne (which, by- 
the-bye, has never yet been done). The Prince in conclusion 
begged me, if I was really attached to him, to perform the 
marriage ceremony between him and Mrs. Fitzherbert. I used 
every argument I could think of to dissuade him from his 
purpose, but the more I argued against the marriage the more 
resolved the Prince seemed to become the husband of Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, and at last the Prince said, ' If you refuse to marry 
me, I must find out another clergyman who will.' This vehe- 
mence of his made me apprehensive that the Prince might get 

1 Gerrard Lake, first Viscount Lake of Delhi (1744-1808), a distinguished 
soldier, afterwards Commander-in-Chief in India. 

2 The scar which Mrs. Fitzherbert told Lord Stourton she had frequently 
seen. 



SURRENDER 63 

some clergyman to marry him for the chance of Church prefer- 
ment, and then that this same divine for a larger bribe would 
betray the Prince's secret to Mr. Pitt, who was then Prime 
Minister. This made me unable to resist the Prince's impor- 
tunity, and I could not bear to see him so miserable; for at the 
period I am writing about, I esteemed the Prince, notwith- 
standing the difference of our rank, with all the warmth of 
equahty in friendship. 

"Dearest Louisa, do not blame me for this weakness; bear 
in mind I was young, and could not help being flattered by the 
attentions of a Prince who was one of the best arguers, in his 
own cause, I have ever known. His were not the regards of a 
common person; whoever he wished to gain he talked to so 
frankly, and on subjects most interesting to his hearer, and 
his tact was so nice that he never failed in the most minute 
circumstance which he supposed might captivate those with 
whom he, for the present hour, chose to associate. In a word, 
his manner, his earnestness, his devoted attachment to Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, his recklessness of the future, aided by one little 
but painful circumstance, namely a Prince imploring the consent 
of a subject, subdued me, and I agreed to marry him. 

"This point being settled, the Prince said that on a certain 
day I should be walking between seven and eight o'clock in 
the evening at the upper end of Park Lane near Hereford Street,^ 
where Mrs. Fitzherbert then lived, and that a person should be 
ready to introduce me into her house; I understood from the 
Prince that the only persons who would attend the wedding 
were his friends the Duke of Devonshire, and his Duchess, the 
sister of Lord Spencer. I then, after thanks in abundance 
showered on me, left Carlton House. 

"I walked home full of the important business, and aware 
of the serious results I was bringing on myself, yet without the 
slightest inclination to draw back, when, just at the door, my 
last night's conversation with Lord Lake at the ' Mount ' coffee 
house, flashed across my memory. I too late recollected that 
I had tacitly engaged not to marry the Prince to Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert. This made me shrink from the imprudent step I had 
taken. In my devotedness to the Prince I had set at naught 

» Now known as Hereford Gardens, at the Oxford Street end of Park Street 
and Park Lane. 



64 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

the legal penalties I must incur, but I could not divest myself 
of the dread of reproach from Lord Lake, for having broken 
my word. I had, and ever shall have, the highest opinion of 
the honour and integrity of Lord Lake. I know he was sincerely 
attached to the Prince, and I would not have forfeited Lord 
Lake's good opinion for all the world. I was now completely 
wretched, and, as a last resource, I immediately wrote the 
most affecting letter I could to the Prince, saying that before 
I saw him, I had promised to one person that nothing should 
induce me to marry the Prince to Mrs. Fitzherbert, that I had 
resolved to brave every punishment and loss I might sustain 
from having solemnised such marriage when persuaded to this 
by the Prince himself; but that I could not endure loss of honour. 
I mentioned, too, most truly, that during the interesting con- 
versation I was honoured with by him on this subject I lost 
sight of the promise I had made, but that now, in my cool 
moments of reflection, it made me most unhappy, and I con- 
jured him, by the strongest terms I could use, to allow me to 
decline the marriage ceremony. 

"The Prince sent me directly a very kind answer releasing 
me from my engagement, and ordering me to wait on him at 
Colonel Gardner's house in Queen Street. Colonel Gardner 
naturally enough said, 'It was a pity I had not recollected my 
promise before I had allowed the Prince to confide in me.' 
I repHed that I was very sorry for it, but that the agitation of 
such a question, and the Prince's importunity, had for the 
moment overcome me. We were now at Colonel Gardner's 
house; the Prince was already there. He shook hands with 
me, at the same time saying, 'if he had not let me off, I must 
inevitably have fled from England.' To this royal logic I 
joyfully assented, though for the fife of me I never could make 
out how banishment must necessarily follow my resolution to 
conform to the law. In the course of conversation the Prince 
said he was sure he knew the friend who had bound me, meaning 
Lord North, but without mentioning his name. I rephed 'that 
H.R.H. must pardon me, but that I never could tell who that 
friend was.' We then separated. 

"I instantly destroyed the Prince's letters, and never till 
the death of George IV. mentioned the business to any one. 
Neither did I tell Lord Lake on his return from India, when 



SURRENDER 65 

the tale was out of date, what I had suffered not to lose his 
friendship. 

"I am firmly convinced that the Prince was married to Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, and that all the Enghsh Roman Catholics consid- 
ered her as the legal wife of George IV. I am inclined to think 
that when the Prince told Mrs. Fitzherbert that I declined 
marrying him to her, that he forgot to tell her my strict sense 
of honour alone prevented my performing the ceremony. I 
can speak nothing but what is as honourable as is true of that 
ill-used Lady. In her long intercourse with the Prince of 
Wales, she never spoke ill of any human being. She never was 
versed in the low art of courtly detraction and calumny, she 
never enriched herself, her relations or friends, by imposing on 
confiding Royalty; she never conspired with any low-born 
engine {sic) to keep the distinguished Ruler of England inclosed 
in a magic circle, remote from the affections of his people. 
But Mrs. Fitzherbert was truly and honestly attached to her 
Royal Husband, and always intent on his showing himself 
frequently among those who were destined to be his subjects. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert has lived honoured and respected,^ without 
guile, without deceit, and without that most odious vice of 
avarice. Happy had it been for this forsaken Lady, had she 
never been the object of princely love, and a thousand times 
happier had it been for the Prince, had he never deserted her 
for the dearly-bought smiles of her unworthy successor. 

"My dear daughter, you have now all I ever remember of 
this matter, for I write from memory only, having always 
thought it base to commit to writing the conversations of the 
day. I have told you what happened forty-five years ago. 

"Adieu, dearest; I hope this will give you half as much 

pleasure in reading, as it has done your most affectionate Father 

in writing it. Ever yours, uc t t^ m 

^ -^ ' "S. JoHNES Knight." 

Both the clergymen who were thus unsuccessfully approached 
were sworn to secrecy, and neither of them betrayed his pledged 
word, or gave the shghtest hint of what was going on. Yet 
rumour was extraordinarily busy, and for once was very near 
the truth. The return of Mrs. Fitzherbert to London soon 

" It must be remembered that she was still living when this letter was written. 

F 



66 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

became generally known, and the gossip of the town put its 
own construction upon it. In the clubs and coffee-houses, and 
in the drawing-rooms of great ladies, nothing was talked of but 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's return, and the terms on which she was 
supposed to have surrendered to the Prince's importunities 
were eagerly discussed. Had she insisted upon a marriage or 
had she not? this was the all-engrossing topic in the world of 
fashion. Many of her friends declared that she must have 
done so ; others, more worldly-minded, shrugged their shoulders 
and looked dubious. The discussion was animated and pro- 
longed, and long before it came to an end the marriage had 
already taken place, with far more solemn and binding forms 
than rumour generally supposed. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE MARRIAGE 

(1785) 

At last a clergyman of the Church of England was found 
willing to perform the marriage ceremony. The Rev. Robert 
Burt, a young curate, who had been recently admitted to priest's 
orders, consented to run the risk, and to marry the Prince of 
Wales to Mrs. Fitzherbert in return for ;^5oo paid down and 
the promise of future preferment. 

All obstacles being thus removed, the marriage took place 
about six o'clock in the evening of December 15, 1785, at Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's town house in Park Street, Park Lane.^ The 
ceremony was duly performed according to the rites of the 
Church of England by an ordained priest of that Church. 
Lord Stourton says that "she was married according to the 
rites of the Cathohc Church ... no Roman Catholic priest 
officiating," ^ — a confusion of language which does not mean 
that the Roman ritual was followed, but that such forms 
were observed as are recognised by the Church of Rome to 
constitute a valid marriage; the Anglican rite, performed by 
an Anglican clergyman, in the presence of witnesses, is deemed 
sufficient. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert's uncle, Henry Errington, gave his niece 
away, and he and her brother. Jack Smythe, acted as witnesses. 
The greatest secrecy was observed. The Prince came on foot 
from Carlton House after dusk, attended only, it is said, by 

' This house, which was at the upper end of Park Street, close to Oxford 
Street, near what is now known as Hereford Gardens, has been pulled down. 
It was standing -until within a comparatively recent date. Lady Constance 
Leslie, a daughter of Mrs. Fitzherbert's adopted daughter, the Hon. Mrs. 
George Dawson Damer, remembers her father pointing it out to her as "the 
house where Mrs. Fitzherbert married George IV." It was the house left to 
Mrs. Fitzherbert by her second husband. 

^ Langdale, op. cit. 

67 



68 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Mr. Orlando Bridgeman.^ Mrs. Fitzherbert, with her uncle 
and brother and the officiating clergyman, had already assem- 
bled in the drawing-room, and when the Prince arrived the 
doors of the room were locked, the clergyman put on his sur- 
phce, and began the service according to "The Form of Solem- 
nisation of Matrimony in the Book of Common Prayer." Mr. 
Bridgeman does not appear to have been actually present at 
the marriage; he was probably on guard outside the door of 
the room, perhaps outside the door of the house, to give alarm 
in case of need. For it must be remembered this was the first 
clandestine marriage of a prince of the blood since the passing 
of the Royal Marriage Act, and if the King or the Government 
had had any hint of what was going on, the ceremony would 
have been prevented, if necessary by force. But it passed off 
without interruption. No one alleged any impediment why 
these two should "not be coupled together in matrimony." 
Before a clergyman of the Church of England, and in the pres- 
ence of witnesses, George Prince of Wales and Maria Fitzherbert 
knelt side by side and repeated the vows that made them man 
and wife. The priest joined their hands and pronounced over 
them the solemn words, " Those whom God hath joined together 
let no man put asunder.''^ 

When the service was concluded, the Prince of Wales wrote 
out a certificate of marriage with his own hand and signed it. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert also signed it, and the two witnesses added 
their names — John Smythe and Henry Errington. This cer- 
tificate (her marriage fines) was given into the keeping of 
Mrs. Fitzherbert. Many years later the witnesses' signatures 
were cut out of the certificate in a moment of panic at their 
earnest request "by Mrs. Fitzherbert herself, with her own 

1 Orlando Bridgeman (1762-1825) was the eldest son of Sir Henry Bridge- 
man, Bart., afterwards created first Baron Bradford. Orlando, who was then 
twenty-three years of age, was M.P. for Wigan. He succeeded his father in 
1800, and in 1815 was created first Earl of Bradford. He was a Shropshire 
man, a friend of the Smythe family, and always a friend of the Prince of Wales. 
His presence on this occasion is therefore quite likely, though he was not one 
of the witnesses of the marriage. In addition to Mr. Bridgeman some say 
that General Keppel, and others the Duke of Bedford, were present at the 
marriage as friends of the Prince of Wales. But this is unlikely. Not even 
Colonel Gardner, who had found the clergymen and arranged all the details 
of the ceremony, was present; the Prince not wishing to compromise any of his 
servants or friends. 




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THE MARRIAGE 69 

scissors, to save them from the peril of the law." ^ But the 
document thus mutilated was always kept by Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
and in 1833 (under circumstances which will be related more 
fully later) it was placed by her, with other papers necessary 
to prove her marriage, in Messrs. Coutts's Bank. The certifi- 
cate ^ runs as follows: — 



We, the undersigned, do witness y^ George Augustus Fred- 
erick, Prince of Wales, was married unto Maria Fitzherbert, this 
15''' of December 1785. 



Witnesses' names cut out. 



George P. 
Maria Fitzherbert. 



Mrs. Fitzherbert soon regretted her hasty act in cutting out 
the witnesses' names. She reahsed that it weakened the value 
of the document as evidence, and to supply the defect she kept 
a letter which the Prince wrote to her nearly fourteen years 
after their marriage. In this letter, dated from Windsor Castle, 
June II, 1799, he said, speaking of their marriage: — 

" Thank God my witnesses are living, your uncle and your 
brother, besides Harris [Lord Malmesbury], whom I shall call 
upon as having been informed by me of every, even the minutest, 
circumstance of our marriage ^ ^ 

1 Longdale, op. cit. 

2 1 am allowed to publish the certificate here by gracious permission of His 
Majesty the King. It is the paper marked "No. 2 " on the list given by Lang- 
dale {op. cit. p. 87), and was until recently kept at Messrs. Coutts's Bank. It 
has now been removed, with the other Fitzherbert papers, to the private archives 
at Windsor Castle by command of His Majesty. Mr. Langdale, who had 
never seen the document, gives the wrong date to the marriage, December 
21, 1785. It took place on December 15, 1785. The tail of the "g" of Mr. 
Errington's signature can be seen. 

3 This extract from the Prince's letter is pubhshed here by gracious permission 
of His Majesty the King. This document is marked "3" on the list given by 
Langdale {op. cit. p. 87): "Letter from the late King relating to the Marriage." 
Mrs. Fitzherbert told Lord Stourton who her witnesses were, and this letter 
corroborates her statement. It also goes to show that Orlando Bridgemari was 
not actually present at the ceremony. The ofiiciating clergyman is not men- 
tioned by the Prince; he had died in 1791. 



70 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

It will be seen that everything connected with the ceremony 
was carried out in due order. The Prince was quite as anxious 
as Mrs. Fitzherbert that this should be so — that nothing 
should be wanting which could make her his wife according to 
God's law. 

It is impossible to believe that the young Prince was not 
absolutely sincere. Despite his youthful follies he was far from 
being an irreligious man. He knew that to the woman he 
loved and honoured the marriage was a real one; to her mar- 
riage was a sacrament, and the vows she uttered were binding 
on her conscience and life. There is no reason to beheve that 
the Prince regarded the marriage in a dijfferent light, or to 
doubt that he meant his vows to be equally binding on him. 
There is abundant evidence to prove that despite the wrong 
he did her in after years, she was always in his heart of hearts 
his "only real and true wife." 

The Prince could never make her Princess of Wales, she 
could never share with him his throne, their children (if there 
were any) could never succeed to the crown of England, but he 
could and did make her his wife, according to the law of the 
Church Catholic throughout the world, though not according to 
the law of the British Parliament. There was no deception in 
this, for Mrs. Fitzherbert knew the existing state of the civil law 
as well as he. By this marriage he fulfilled the only stipulation 
she demanded, for the rest she trusted wholly to his honour. 
That she trusted to a broken reed is a matter of history, yet we 
refuse to believe that at the time of his marriage he acted in 
bad faith, or ever (even in after years) willingly wronged her. 
What happened later does not necessarily impair his sincerity 
of purpose at the time of his marriage. He was full of good 
intentions. If she had made sacrifices, and they were great, 
let it not be forgotten that he made sacrifices too. For he 
knew that if this union ever became known, the consequences 
might be most serious to him. It says much for his trust in 
the woman he married, as well as his love for her, that he placed 
in her hands such a tremendous power for harni against him. 
as their marriage certificate. His trust was not misplaced, for 
she was of a generous and noble nature, incapable of petty 
meanness or revenge. She solemnly promised that she would 
never publish the fact of the marriage during his lifetime 



THE MARRIAGE 71 

without his consent, and to that promise she adhered in after 
years through good report and evil,, despite the grossest attacks 
on her character, though she was pubHcly forsworn in Parha- 
ment, and privately repudiated by her husband. She held all 
the documentary proofs of her marriage ; she could have silenced 
her calumniators with a word; but the proofs were never pro- 
duced, the word was never spoken. Her conscience was clear 
to herself, she was void of offence before God, and she let the 
world say what it would. The result justified her wisdom. 
Such was the uprightness of her character that silence proved 
her most effectual weapon, and won for her the behef and 
respect of honourable men and women. 

There remains to be considered the clergyman who per- 
formed the marriage ceremony, the Rev. Robert Burt. The 
Prince of Wales faithfully kept his promise to give him prefer- 
ment. In addition to the £500 paid down, he appointed him 
one of his domestic chaplains, and obtained for him the com- 
fortable living of Twickenham (the parish in which Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert's villa was situated). On the strength of these good 
things Mr. Burt married, and before long had a growing family. 
His ambitions grew with his needs; for his gratitude was of 
the kind which has a keen sense of favours to come. Not- 
withstanding all that the Prince had done for him, we find him, 
six years after the marriage, writing the following letter, which 
gives a curious insight into the character of the man : — 

" The Reverend Robert Burt to H.R.H. the Prince 
0} Wales. 

"Twickenham Vicarage, 
February 25, 1791. 

"Sir, — I most humbly beg to notify to Your Royal High- 
ness the death of Dr. Tarrant, Dean of Peterborough, Rector 
of St. George's Bloomsbury, and Prebendary of Rochester. 
The above preferments being all in the gift of the Crown, I 
have thought it my duty to announce them accordingly to 
Your Royal Highness. The Prebend of Rochester, being the 
least and most insignificant in value, I take the liberty to 
mention it particularly to Your Royal Highness, and to solicit 
most humbly and earnestly your influence and interposition 



72 



MRS. FITZHERBERT 



with the Lord Chancellor to obtain it for me. Your Royal 
Highness may be assured that I should not have made the 
present application was I not in a situation to require your 
gracious aid and protection, and at the same time most sensible 
how ready the Lord Chancellor is upon all occasions to testify 
his respect and deference to Your Royal Highness by paying 
due attention to your recommendations: of this I have already 
been frequently apprised without having occasion to refer to 
my own particular case, when Your Royal Highness did me 
the honour last year to have my name mentioned to the Lord 
Chancellor. It can never be in my power to testify my gratitude 
for the indulgences already conferred on me by Your Royal 
Highness, nor am I able in any degree to express them as my 
heart would dictate. I can only afhrm that I shall ever retain 
the hvehest sense of my obligations to you, and continually 
pray for Your Royal Highness's health and happiness as long 
as I have breath. From Your Royal Highness's most gracious 
assurance of protection and patronage whenever an opportunity 
should offer, I have every reason to flatter myself with success 
from the strength and validity of Your Royal recommendation. 

"Let me once more therefore beg leave to solicit Your Royal 
Highness's interposition on my behalf, and to entreat your 
assistance. 

"In the meanwhile I have the honour to be, Sir, your Royal 
Highness's most dutiful and faithful servant, 

"Robert Burt." 

The Prince gave this letter to Mrs. Fitzherbert, who ap- 
pended to it the following memorandum in her own hand- 
writing : — 

" The writer of this letter, the Rev. Mr. Burt, is the clergyman 

that performed the ceremony of marriage of H.R.H. the Prince, 

and of Mrs. Fitzherbert. .e- ^\ 

' (o igned) 

"Maria Fitzherbert." 

The clergyman's letter, with the above memorandum written 
on the back, was kept by Mrs. Fitzherbert among her private 
papers, and in 1833 she placed it, with other documents, at 



THE MARRIAGE 73 

Coutts's Bank.^ It forms the last link of the chain of evidence 
which proves beyond all doubt the fact that a ceremony of mar- 
riage took place between George, Prince of Wales, and Maria 
Fitzhcrbert. 

It may be added that Mr. Burt did not obtain the coveted 
preferment. Perhaps the Prince of Wales felt that he had done 
enough for him, and that it was time to make a stand. Perhaps 
he had not the power, for at the time the apphcation was made 
(1791) the Prince was much out of favour with the King and 
the Government, and he had no influence even in the smallest 
matters. In any case the Prince was spared further annoyance 
from this importunate cleric. Mr. Burt died some eight months 
after he had written this letter, on October 17, 1791, at the age 
of thirty-one. He is said to have confessed on his deathbed ^ 
that he had performed the marriage between the Prince of 
Wales and Mrs. Fitzherbert. Mr. Burt's name, however, was 
never mentioned in the connection, and it was believed until 
recently that Mr. Johnes Knight had been the officiating clergy- 
man. At the time of the marriage it was generally asserted 
that the ceremony had been performed by a Roman CathoHc 
priest, according to the rites of the Church of Rome. 

1 1 am allowed to publish the letter and memorandum here by gracious 
permission of His Majesty the King. This document is No. 5 on the list given 
by Langdale {op. cit. p. 87): "Memorandum written by Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
attached to a letter written by the clergyman who performed the marriage 
ceremony." 

This document has served as a pretext for several impostors to declare that 
they were the children (or descendants of the children) of the illegal marriage 
of George IV. and Mrs. Fitzherbert. They declared that the proofs of their 
paternity were to be found in the Fitzherbert papers at Coutts's Bank, more 
particularly in this document, and for that reason the papers were never pub- 
lished. The publication of the document in full now is a convincing proof of 
the falsehood of their statements, which had not the slightest foundation in fact. 
Neither by her first or second marriage, nor by her third marriage with George, 
Prince of Wales, had Mrs. Fitzherbert any children. 

2 "Diary of Lord Colchester," vol. i. p. 68. 



CHAPTER VII » 

THE VALIDITY OF THE MARRIAGE 

Reference has been made to the Royal Marriage Act of 
1772, of which Act the Prince of Wales's marriage to Mrs. 
Fitzherbert was a flagrant violation. It will be well, therefore, 
to review briefly the provisions of that Act, and the causes which 
led to its passing into law. We will then pass to other consider- 
ations which affected this marriage in its civil and rehgious 
aspect. 

The Royal Marriage Act owed its origin to the clandestine 
marriages of George III.'s two brothers, the Duke of Gloucester 
and the Duke of Cumberland, to English subjects without the 
consent of the King. 

The first of these marriages, though it was not declared until 
later than the second, was that of the Duke of Gloucester ^ to 
the Dowager Countess Waldegrave, who by birth was the 
illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Walpole (eldest son of the 
great Minister, and brother of Horace Walpole) by Mary 
Clement, a milliner's apprentice. Lady Waldegrave was the 
second of the three beautiful daughters born of this connec- 
tion, Laura, Maria, and Charlotte. Their paternity was fully 
acknowledged by their father, who gave them his liame, and 
intended to have married the mother, but was prevented by 
her early death. His daughters grew up under his immediate 
care, and he gave them every advantage of wealth and educa- 
tion. They were received everywhere, except at Court, and all 
three made good marriages. Laura married the Rev. the Hon. 

1 This chapter is an interpolation dealing with the legality and validity of 
the marriage, and does not affect the narrative. The word "validity" is used 
in reference to the Canon Law, and "legality" in connection with the Civil 
Law. 

2 William Henry, first Duke of Gloucester, third son of Frederick, Prince of 
Wales (1743-1805). 

74 




THE DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER 

[nde Walpole) 



VALIDITY OF THE MARRIAGE 75 

Frederick Keppel, brother of the Earl of Albemarle, who 
subsequently became Bishop of Exeter; Maria, James, Earl 
Waldegrave; and Charlotte, Lord Huntingtower, afterwards 
Earl of Dysart. Lord Waldegrave, who was old enough to be 
Maria's father, died a few years after the marriage, leaving 
his widow with three daughters ; ^ they had no son. Lady 
Waldegrave was rich and beautiful, highly accomplished, very 
dignified, and most correct in her conduct and principles. 
Many admirers were at her feet, but she rejected them all, and 
to the astonishment of her friends engaged in a dalliance with 
the unattractive Duke of Gloucester. The Duke fell in love 
with the young widow when he was only nineteen, and despite 
all obstacles and remonstrances persisted in his suit for two or 
three years. 

At last Lady Waldegrave yielded to the importunities of her 
royal lover, and they were secretly married, without witnesses, 
in the drawing-room of Lady Waldegrave's town house, by her 
domestic chaplain, on September 6, 1766. The marriage was 
not declared; they did not live in the same house, and to out- 
ward semblance things went on much as before, though the 
lady's hveries and establishment became semi-royal. The 
Duke visited her daily, and attended her everywhere in pubKc, 
when he treated her with the most profound respect. Some 
said they were married, for it seemed unlikely that an earl's 
widow of virtue and pride would become the mistress of a prince 
of the blood. Others said they were not, and they held it 
impossible, owing to her illegitimacy, that Lady Waldegrave 
could ever be acknowledged as the sister-in-law of the reigning 
Sovereign. So matters went on for six years after the secret 
marriage, and then, in June 1772, in consequence of the passing 
of the Royal Marriage Act (brought about by the marriage of 
the Duke of Cumberland), the Duke of Gloucester formally 
communicated the fact of his marriage to the King. The King, 
though he had suspected the truth, was greatly annoyed at its 

1 The Waldegrave sisters were famous for their beauty. The eldest, Eliza- 
beth Laura, married her first cousin, George, Earl Waldegrave. The second, 
Charlotte Maria, married the Earl of Euston, afterwards Duke of Grafton. 
The third, Anne Horatia, married Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour, by whom she 
had a large family. The youngest of her children, Mary Seymour, was after- 
wards adopted by Mrs. Fitzherbert. Of this we shall have occasion to speak 
later. 



76 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

being confirmed. He deputed the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
the Lord Chancellor, and the Bishop of London to inquire into 
the legality of the marriage, as it had taken place without 
witnesses. The Duke said that if there were any doubt cast 
upon the marriage he would marry the Duchess again, but the 
committee reported that they were satisfied with its legality. 
The King therefore acknowledged the marriage, but for a long 
time he refused to be reconciled to his brother, and spoke of 
him with sorrow, and of his wife with bitterness. "I never 
can," he writes, "think of placing her in a situation to answer 
her extreme pride and vanity." ^ Time, however, the submissive 
attitude of the Duke, and the irreproachable conduct of the 
Duchess, worked a change. They lived in exile for years, but 
when at last they returned to England the King received them 
at Court, and thereafter showed the greatest kindness to them, 
and to their two children. Prince William Frederick, and the 
Princess Sophia of Gloucester.^ 

The second marriage was that of the King's youngest 
brother, the Duke of Cumberland,^ to Anne, daughter of Lord 
Irnham (afterwards Earl of Carhampton), the widow of a 
Derbyshire squire, Andrew Horton of Catton. This marriage, 
though it took place subsequently to that of the Duke of Glou- 
cester, was declared first. The Duchess of Cumberland was 
very different to the Duchess of Gloucester. She was well 
born, young and beautiful, but lacked the Duchess of Glouces- 
ter's pride and high character. She was a born intrigante and 
devoted to a life of pleasure. Her appearance and her friends 
were what is called "fast," but nothing definite was ever alleged 
against her virtue. Her marriage to the Duke of Cumberland 
took place on October 2, 1771, at the lady's house in Hertford 
Street, Mayfair.* The marriage was in regular order, and 

1 Brougham's "Statesmen of the Time of George III.," ed. 1858. 

^ Prince WilUam Frederick succeeded his father as second Duke of Glouces- 
ter in 1805. He married in 1816 his cousin, Princess Mary, fourth daughter 
of George III. There was no issue of this marriage. The Duke died in 1834, 
the Duchess in 1857. Princess Sophia Matilda of Gloucester never married. 
She was one of the godmothers, by proxy, of his present Majesty, King Edward 
VII. 

3 Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland (1745-1790), fourth son of Freder- 
ick, Prince of Wales. 

* The proofs of the marriage, obtained by order of the King in 1773, are 
preserved in the Privy Council Office. 



VALIDITY OF THE MARRIAGE 77 

there was little or no concealment. The newly-wedded pair 
went to France for their honeymoon, and the Duke wrote from 
Calais and announced his marriage to the King as though it 
were a matter of course, George III. was greatly . incensed, 
not only at the marriage, but at the manner in which his brother 
had thought fit to make it known to him. He sent an intima- 
tion to the foreign ambassadors and ministers that he would 
be obliged if they would abstain from visiting Cumberland 
House. The Lord Chamberlain sent out a notice to the fash- 
ionable world, to the effect that all those who waited on the 
Duke and Duchess of Cumberland would no longer be received 
at Court. This rule became practically a dead-letter, for 
though the King never forgave his brother and never received 
the Duchess, he could not prevent people from visiting them. 
The Prince of Wales was one of the greatest offenders in this 
respect, for he was always at Cumberland House, and society 
followed his lead. The Duke and Duchess of Cumberland 
retaliated by setting the King at defiance. They knew, despite 
all the Sovereign could say or do, their marriage was perfectly 
legal, and their children (if they had any), came within the line 
of succession to the throne.^ The King knew this too, and 
was determined to prevent such marriages in future. He took 
counsel with his ministers forthwith, and the result was the 
Royal Marriage Act of 1772. 

The Duke of Cumberland's marriage was thus the imme- 
diate cause of the Royal Marriage Act, but there were other 
reasons as well. George HI., who was a despot where his 
family were concerned, had long contemplated some such 
measure. Though he was the first of our Hanoverian Kings 
to be born and bred in England, he had inherited on this point 
the narrow views of his German mother, who ranked the pettiest 
prince of Germany above- the noblest of England's dukes. It 
was an article of faith with her that suitable brides for her sons 
were only to be found in Germany. George III. was a firm 
believer in this -anti- Enghsh policy. He was a conscientious 
man, and not one who would shrink from his convictions; he 
had himself done violence to his affections in not marrying the 
beautiful Lady Sarah Lennox, whom he loved. True to his 

1 There was no issue from the marriage. 



78 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

theory, he had sent to Germany for his bride, and there had 
come to him Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strehtz. 

Apart from this German bias it must be admitted that there 
was much to be said on the King's side. His brothers, doubt- 
less, might have found suitable consorts among the daughters 
of the English nobility, but such alliances as the clandestine 
marriages of the Dukes of Gloucester and Cumberland did not 
add to the prestige of the royal house. The King had a nu- 
merous family growing up of sons and daughters, and it was 
clearly desirable that he should have the power to prevent them 
from contracting imprudent marriages at an early age. Any 
father of a family should have such power, how much more 
then the King of England. But George III. aimed at far more 
than reasonable parental authority. He wished to be invested 
with despotic power, and to be able to forbid the marriages of 
his sons and daughters, and of all his relatives (descendants of 
George II.), not only until a fixed age but for all time. This 
is clearly shown by the message he sent to Parliament after the 
Duke of Cumberland's marriage. He stated that the right of 
approving of all marriages in the royal family had ever belonged 
to the King as a matter of public weal, and he recommended 
Parliament to remedy the defect in the laws forthwith. 

In consequence of the royal message, on February 17, 1772, 
a Bill was brought into Parliament to give the King the authority 
he desired, entitled "An Act for the better regulating of the 
future Marriages of the Royal Family." The Bill was strongly 
opposed in all its stages as despotic and un-English. In the 
House of Lords Lord Rockingham opposed it on the supposition 
that the Royal family might in time become so numerous as to 
include many thousand individuals — a not unlikely supposition, 
for Queen Charlotte had already presented her husband with 
many children, and seemed hkely to present him with as many 
more. Lord Camden deprecated the power to annul a marriage 
contracted between persons who had attained their majority, 
that is, twenty-one years. Lord Radnor spoke against the bill 
because it did not guard against what he considered to be a 
greater danger — the improper marriages of Princes on the 
throne. The King might marry whom he would, but his 
relatives and children only whom he pleased. Equally vigorous 
was the opposition in the House of Commons. The Bill was 



VALIDITY OF THE MARRIAGE 79 

debated with locked doors. Fox declared that the measure 
was "big with mischief, and likely to bring upon the country 
disorder and confusion; he would give it his most deter- 
mined opposition in every part and at every stage." The 
discussion was continued with great acrimony, and was pro- 
tracted until long after midnight, an unusual thing in those 
days. At last the Government succeeded in carrying the 
second reading. 

The Bill was again opposed in the Lords on its going into 
Committee. Lord Folkenstone made an able speech against it. 
He reviewed historically the claim put forward by the Crown. 
He alluded dehcately to the recent marriage of the Duke of 
Cumberland (the Duke of Gloucester's marriage had not then 
been declared), and traced the various instances in which not 
only Princes but Kings of England had married into families 
other than royal, not only to their own happiness, but to the 
benefit of the nation. He cited Queen Ehzabeth and Queen 
Anne as two of England's sovereigns who were children of such 
marriages as this Bill proposed to condemn. He declared the 
measure to be "un-Enghsh, arbitrary, opposed to natural law, 
and contrary to the law of God." The great Lord Chatham, 
who was unable to be present through illness, wrote a letter, 
which was read in the course of debate, strongly condemning 
the Bill. He described it as "new-fangled," and the powers 
given to the King as "wanton and tyrannical." The most 
strenuous opposition, however, only succeeded in effecting some 
modifications in the Bill. It was forced through Parhament, 
and received the Royal Assent in March 1772. In its final 
form it ran as follows : ^ — 

"As His Majesty, from His Paternal Affection to His 
Family, and His Royal Concern for the future Welfare of His 
People, and the Honour and Dignity of His Crown, was gra- 
ciously pleased to recommend to His Parhament to take into 
their serious consideration. Whether it might not be expedient 
to supply the Defect of the Laws now in being; and by some 
new Provision, more effectually to guard the Descendants of 
George II. (other than the Issue of Princesses who have married, 
or may hereafter marry, into foreign Families) from marrying 

I "An Abstract of an Act for the better regulating the Future Marriages of 
the Royal Family." Georgii III., a.d. 1772. 



8o MRS. FITZHERBERT 

without the Approbation of His Majesty, His Heirs, &c. first 
obtained : be it enacted — 

''That no Descendant of the Body of His late Majesty King 
George II., Male or Female (other than the Issue of Princesses 
who have married, or may hereafter marry, into foreign Fami- 
lies), shall be capable of contracting Matrimony without the 
previous Consent of His Majesty, His Heirs, &c., signified 
under the Great Seal, and declared in Council (which Consent, 
to preserve the Memory thereof, is hereby directed to be set out 
in the Licence and Register of Marriage, and to be entered in 
the Books of the Privy Council); and that every Marriage or 
Matrimonial Contract of any such Descendant, without such 
Consent first obtained, shall be void. 

"In case such Descendant of George II., being above the 
age of 25 Years, shall persist in the Resolution to contract a 
Marriage disapproved of by the King, His Heirs, Slc, that then 
such Descendant, upon giving Notice to the King's Privy 
Council, which Notice is hereby directed to be entered in the 
Books thereof, may, at any Time from the Expiration of Twelve 
Calendar Months after such notice given as aforesaid, contract 
such Marriage; and such Marriage with the Person before 
proposed, and rejected, may be duly solemnised, without the 
previous Consent of His Majesty, or Successors; and shall be 
good unless both Houses of Parliament shall, before the Expi- 
ration of the said Twelve Months, expressly declare their 
Disapprobation thereof. 

"Every person who shall wilfully presume to solemnise, or 
to assist, or to be present at the Celebration of any Marriage 
with any such Descendant, or at his or her making any Matri- 
monial Contract, without such Consent as aforesaid first ob- 
tained, except in the case above mentioned, shall, being duly 
convicted thereof, suffer the Penalties ordained by the Statute 
of Provision and Premunire made 16 Rich. II." ^ 

The powers of the Sovereign, it will be seen, are lim- 
ited in this Act. The age limit is raised from twenty-one 
to twenty-five years (no excessive limit), after that the ulti- 
mate appeal is to Parliament. If Parliament, being duly noti- 
fied, does not forbid the marriage in dispute within twelve 

1 "Public General Acts." 12 George III. 




THE DUCHESS OF CUMBERLAND 
[n^e Luttrell) 

[After the Painting by George Cosway, R.A.) 



VALIDITY OF THE MARRIAGE 8i 

months, the King's objection can be over-ruled and the mar- 
riage duly solemnised. On the other hand, the scope of the 
Bill includes not only the Sovereign's children and those in 
direct succession to the throne, but all members of the Royal 
Family, even the mose remote, other than the issue of British 
princesses who have married into foreign families. The powers 
given are therefore very extensive; the happiness of many is 
placed in the hands of the Sovereign, and it depends chiefly 
upon him whether the Act is administered with wisdom and 
judgment, or whether it degenerates into an instrument of 
tyranny. The position of the Sovereign in this matter is a 
delicate and difficult one. Some such Act as the Royal Mar- 
riage Act is necessary, and it may be further contended in 
its favour that, though this one has been in existence for 
over a century, it has always been administered with discre- 
tion; ^ except, perhaps, in one or two instances during the 
reign of George III. It was this lack ■ of judgment on the 
part of George TIL which probably caused the Act to recoil 
upon the domestic happiness of some of his children, and ulti- 
mately on himself. Into these cases it would serve no good 
purpose to enter here. 

There is a vulgar error that the Royal Marriage Act forbids 
marriages between princes and princesses of the blood and 
persons other than royal, but it does nothing of the kind. The 
consent of the Sovereign is absolutely necessary up to the age 
of twenty-five, whether the intended marriage be with a royal 
personage or not. And with the Sovereign's consent the mar- 
riage of a prince or princess of the blood royal with a subject, 
even with a commoner, would be perfectly legal. The words 
''even with a commoner" need some explanation, for there are 
many English commoners of royal descent — descended legiti- 
mately from our Plantagenet and Tudor kings. In England 
there has never been (at least until recently) that exaggerated 
value of titles, qucL titles, which obtains in many European 
countries, where almost every one of any position is possessed 
of some high-sounding prefix, often signifying little or nothing. 
In England there are many commoners of ancient lineage 

* In proof of this contention it may be stated that no appeal to Parliament 
against the Sovereign's decision has ever been made by any prince or princess 
of the blood royal since the passing of the Act. 



82 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

who can point to a more distinguished descent than many a 
peer.^ With the consent of the Sovereign the Royal Marriage 
Act otters no obstacle to the marriage of such an one to any 
member of the Royal Family, who, subject to this condition, is 
free to wed with any English subject, noble, gentle, or simple. 

Still the Act was intensely unpopular; it was regarded as 
un-English, and the opposition to it lasted long after it became 
law. By marfy it was thought to be a short-lived measure, one 
that would be repealed, or fall into desuetude, on the death of 
George III., and one which even during his lifetime could be 
evaded with impunity. The Prince of Wales openly said that 
he would repeal the Act when he came to the throne, and as 
the whole Whig party were opposed to it, it was thought that 
even a change of Government would probably result in modi- 
fying its provisions. It was said that it was contrary to the 
common law of England, and would break down at the first 
test ; the penalties of premunire were so vague as to be practically 
non-existent. It is possible that if the Royal Marriage Act had 
been the only obstacle, the marriage of Mrs. Fitzherbert to the 
Prince of Wales would have been acknowledged, and she would 
have been recognised, not as Princess of Wales (that, of course, 
was impossible), but as the wife of her husband. 

There existed a far more serious difficulty. The fact that 
she was a Roman Catholic constituted an almost insuperable 
obstacle to the avowal of the marriage. According to Section 
IX. of the Act of 1689 — "An Act for declaring the rights and 
liberties of the subject and settling the succession of the Crown" 
— the Prince's marriage to a Roman Catholic (if regular) 
would have endangered his succession to the throne. The 
clause is sufficiently explicit: 

"And whereas it hath been found by experience that it is 
inconsistent with the safety and welfare of this Protestant 
Kingdom to be governed by a Popish Prince, or any King or 
Queen marrying a Papist, the said Lords Spiritual and Tem- 
poral, and Commons, do further pray that it may be enacted, 
that all and every person and persons that is, are, or shall be 
reconciled to, or shall hold communion with, the See or Church 
of Rome, or shall profess the Popish religion, or shall marry a 

1 Mrs. Fitzherbert is a case in point. She was better born and better con- 
nected than many a peeress, though the table of precedence gave her no place. 



VALIDITY OF THE MARRIAGE 83 

Papist, shall be excluded and be for ever incapable to inherit, 
possess, or enjoy the Crown and Government of this realm, 
and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging, or any 
part of the same, or to have, use, or exercise any regal power, 
authority, or jurisdiction within the same ; and in all and every 
such case or cases the people of these realms shall be and are 
hereby absolved of their allegiance; and the said Crown and 
Government shall from time to time descend to, and be enjoyed 
by, such person or persons, being Protestants, as should have 
inherited and enjoyed the same in case the said person or persons 
so reconciled, holding communion, or professing, or marrying 
aforesaid, were naturally dead." 

Now Mrs. Fitzherbert was a Roman Cathohc born and 
bred, and one who openly professed the principles of her religion. 
Therefore at first sight it would seem that the Prince of Wales, 
in marrying her, had, by violating the clause of the Act which 
placed his family on the throne, forfeited his right to inherit 
the Crown as though, in the words of the Act, he were "natu- 
rally dead," and the succession would pass to his next brother 
Frederick, Duke of York. The fact that the marriage was 
performed by a clergyman of the EstabHshed Church according 
to the rites of the Church of England made no difference, for 
Mrs. Fitzherbert did not abjure her rehgion thereby. But, 
argued the Prince's friends (and doubtless the Prince himself), 
the Prince did not and could not legally marry Mrs. Fitzherbert 
because of the operation of the Royal Marriage Act of 1772, 
which declared such marriages to be null and void in law. 
That these apologists were not sure of their ground is shown 
by the great care which was taken to keep the marriage secret 
at the time ; and when, later, some part of the truth leaked out, 
they felt bound to deny not only the marriage, but that any 
form or ceremony had taken place at all. It is a nice point 
of law how far the subsequent Royal Marriage Act affected this 
clause in the Act of Settlement, and it is one on which great 
constitutional lawyers differ. According to Sir Arthur Pigott 
the marriage was irregular but vahd, and being a marriage 
between the heir-apparent and a Roman Cathohc, operated 
by the provisions of the Act of Settlement to a total defeasance 
of the crown. 

Lord Brougham also, who had considered the subject well, 



84 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

was of the opinion that the plea put forward by the friends of 
the Prince of Wales, that the marriage was illegal, and therefore 
the Act of Settlement was not violated, could not be maintained. 
He says, "It was in discussing this question ever contended, 
that the marriage being illegal, as having been contracted 
without the Royal assent, which the Royal Marriage Act re- 
quires, there could be no forfeiture, the ceremony being a mere 
nullity; but all lawyers agree in that acts of various kinds, both 
by the laws of England and Scotland, are followed by forfeiture 
of the party's rights who commits the acts as if he were natu- 
rally dead, and by the succession of the King's heir, the forfeiture 
being denounced in order to deter from even the attempt to do 
the thing forbidden, how ineffectual soever that thing might be 
in itself for any purpose save the incurring the penalty. Indeed 
the case of bigamy is precisely of this description; the second 
wife has no rights whatever, her marriage is a nullity; but she 
and her pretended husband incur the penalty of felony." ^ 

On the other hand, as Brougham himself shows, the Act of 
Settlement, which fixes the penalty of the Crown's forfeiture on 
any member of the Royal Family who marries a Roman Cath- 
olic, is framed, like most Acts of Parliament, in a careless and 
clumsy manner. He says: "No means of carrying it into effect 
are provided, no declaration of the powers by whom the fact is 
to be ascertained is made, by what authority the subject is to be 
absolved from his allegiance, and that allegiance transferred 
from one to another. It is probable that if the circumstance 
occurred the two Houses of Parliament would from the necessity 
of the case be required to interpose, as in the two precedents 
of 1788 and 181 1 of the Regency arising from the illness of 
George III.; but the statute is altogether silent, and the whole 
enactment assumed the form of a menace or denunciation. 
Nevertheless its meaning is clear; the intention is to prevent a 
Roman Cathohc marriage, and to forfeit all rank and title 
whatever of any King or heir to the throne contracting such a 
marriage." ^ 

But it is idle to speculate what would have happened if the 
fact that the Prince of Wales had gone through the marriage 
ceremony with a Roman Catholic had been pubhcly proclaimed, 

» Lord Brougham's Memoirs. ^ Brougham, op. cit. 



VALIDITY OF THE MARRIAGE 85 

for when the question arose later the marriage was formally 
denied in ParHament on two occasions in the most uncompro- 
mising terms. Otherwise ParHament would probably have 
been forced to intervene, but the necessity of any action being 
taken would have had to be made very clear, and what the result 
of such action might have been it is impossible to say. Some- 
thing would depend upon the attitude of the next heir to the 
Crown; and if he were hostile, or covetous of power, he could 
do much to make the position of the elder brother exceedingly 
uncomfortable. But no such danger was to be apprehended 
from the Duke of York. He was devoted to the Prince of 
Wales (and in after years also to Mrs. Fitzherbert), and he 
always declared that he would never do anything to embarrass 
his brother, and to this principle he loyally adhered throughout 
his life. The real danger, if the truth ever became known, lay 
in the extreme Protestant party in England and Scotland (what 
in our day would be called the "Nonconformist Conscience") 
raising an outcry. The days of the Gordon Riots were then but 
as yesterday. Moreover, Prince Charles Edward was still alive 
in exile, and excluded from inheriting the throne of his ancestors 
by the very Act which the Prince of Wales had apparently 
violated by going through the form of marriage with a Roman 
Catholic. 

So much for the legal point of view. If we consider the 
matter from the civil aspect alone, it is evident that the marriage 
was null and void in law, and not only the contracting parties, 
but the clergyman who performed the ceremony, and the 
witnesses who were privy to it, committed an illegal act in 
direct disobedience of the Royal Marriage Act. The Prince 
of Wales, moreover, in the spirit if not in the letter, violated the 
Act of Settlement. 

But the marriage of any man and woman, however highly 
placed, or however humble, is not in the eyes of professing 
Christians a matter of civil contract alone. Both the Prince of 
Wales and Mrs. Fitzherbert were professing Christians beyond 
all doubt, the one a member of the Church of England, the 
other a member of the Church of Rome. The religious aspect 
of the case therefore forces itself into the controversy, whether 
we will or no, and the question arises: How far were these two 
bound by the solemn vows which they made before God ? 



86 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

With Mrs. Fitzherbert the answer admits of no doubt; with 
her the marriage was a sacrament, and vows which she took 
were binding on her so long as she hved. The illegahty of the 
ceremony did not affect its vahdity with her. The legal point 
was not one on which she could be expected to feel strongly, 
for the whole practice of her religion was illegal at that period; 
the celebration of the Mass was illegal, but the Sacrament was 
not therefore invalid. But it may be objected that the cere- 
mony was performed by a clergyman of the Church of England, 
according to the rites of that Church, and the Church of Rome 
does not recognise the validity of Anglican orders, though she 
had not at that time condemned them. The answer is that it 
makes no difference. 

To quote Mr. Langdale, a leading Roman Catholic lay- 
man, and a cousin of Mrs. Fitzherbert, "the presence of a 
Catholic priest would not, in any way, have added to the 
validity of the marriage in the eyes of the Cathohc Church; 
and, therefore, it is fair to conclude, would not have been 
added to them (the Anglican forms) in those (i.e. the case) 
of Mrs. Fitzherbert, a well-educated Catholic, especially likely 
to be well informed on the way of conducting the marriage 
ceremony, so as to fulfil the forms and conditions required by 
her own Church." ^ 

What these conditions are is clearly stated in an article in 
the Dublin Review on the subject of this marriage.^ The 
Dublin Review has always been regarded as a leading organ of 
educated Roman Cathohcs. 

"The doctrine of the Catholic Church regarding marriage 
is plain and simple. She teaches that the marriage contract 
itself, which is perfected by the words, ' I take thee for my wife ' 

1 Langdale, op. cit. 

2 The Dublin Review, October 1854. Lord Holland's "Memoirs" were 
published in 1854, and had the effect of raising anew the question of the mar- 
riage, and of leading Mr. Langdale to write his "Memoir of Mrs. Fitzherbert." 

The article (from which the above quotation is taken) was written by a 
canonist of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, shortly after the publication 
of Lord Holland's "Memoirs of the Whig Party," wherein doubts were cast 
upon Mrs. Fitzherbert's good faith in the matter of her marriage with the Prince 
of Wales because she did not insist on the ceremony being performed by a 
Roman Catholic priest. Mr. Langdale quotes it in his "Memoir," and con- 
siders it to be convincing. As, however, it was written some time ago, I sub- 
mitted it to the Rev. M. Gavin, S.J., who very kindly read it and gave me his 
opinion. This opinion is incorporated in the footnotes to the quotation. 



VALIDITY OF THE MARRIAGE 87 

on the part of the man, and ' I take thee for my husband ' on the 
part of the woman, or by any other words, or signs, by which 
the contracting parties manifest their intention of taking each 
other for man and wife, is a sacrament. 

"Protestants are apt to fall into a mistake, that it is the 
priest who administers the sacrament to the wedded pair. He 
does no such thing. As far as the validity of the contract and 
of the sacrament is concerned, even when the contracting parties 
are both Catholics, the priest need not utter a word. His 
presence is only necessary as a witness to the contract between 
the parties.^ 

"Up to the time of the Council of Trent the presence of a 
priest was not necessary for the validity of either the contract 
or the sacrament,^ nor was it by any means to confer the sacra- 
ment that the Council enacted a law requiring his presence. 
The law was made in consequence of the abuses which arose 
from clandestine marriages; because an immoral person who 
had married without witnesses, could afterwards deny the exist- 
ence of the contract, and wed another publicly, and in the face 
of the Church. To prevent these abuses the Council of Trent 
enacted that the parish priest of one of the contracting parties, 
or some other priest deputed by him, and two other witnesses, 
should for the future {in posterum) be present (praesento parocho) 
at the marriage contract. The presence of the two other 
witnesses is required exactly in the same way as that of the 
parish priest. The law is simply that the marriage should be 
contracted in the presence of three witnesses, one of whom 
should necessarily be the parish priest. Nor was this law made 
at once obligatory even on Catholics. By the ordinance of the 
Council it is not to have effect in any parish until thirty days 
after it had been published there. This allowed a large discre- 
tion to each Bishop with regard to the time of its publication in 
his diocese, and in fact, it is not long since it has been introduced 

1 "This is not quite correct. The presence of the priest is required for the 
lawfulness of the contract, and his presence is required for the validity of the 
contract in those countries at the present day where the Decree of the Council 
of Trent has been promulgated. It has not been promulgated in England." 
(Note by Father Gavin.) 

2 "The writer here seems to consider the contract and the sacrament distinct. 
But whenever between baptized persons the contract is valid there ipso facto 
the sacrament is administered." (Note by Father Gavin.) 



88 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

into England.^ But it does not and never did apply to any 
marriage in those countries where one of the parties is not a 
Catholic. Neither in such marriages which are called mixed, 
nor in those contracted between parties neither of which 
belong to the Catholic Church, is the presence of any priest 
required for the validity of either the contract or the sacra- 
ment. It is not even necessary that the contracting parties 
should know that marriage is a sacrament. The sacrament 
exists wherever Christians marry as Christ intended. If they 
be properly disposed they will receive grace to live happily 
together, and to bring up their children in the fear and love 
of God. 

"Mrs. Fitzherbert's marriage was therefore perfectly valid 
both as a contract and as a sacrament in the eyes of the 
whole Catholic Church,^ and to imagine that she alone of all 
those who professed the same faith should look upon it as in- 
valid is monstrously absurd. Neither the Pope nor the whole 
Church could have annulled it, nor allowed her to marry 
another." ^ 

To Roman Catholics the question was lifted beyond the 
pale of controversy in 1800. Before that time the Prince of 
Wales had left Mrs. Fitzherbert and married the Princess Caro- 
line of Brunswick. In turn he had separated from her, and 
desired to return to Mrs. Fitzherbert; but before' she would 
receive him again she appealed to Rome. The case was laid 
before the highest authorities of her Church by her director, 
the Rev. William Nassau, one of the priests of the church in 
Warwick Street, who made a journey to Rome for that purpose. 

i"The writer is incorrect in saying the Decree of the Council has been 
introduced into England. At this moment two Catholics may contract a valid 
marriage before the registrar without the presence of a priest, but such Catholics 
sin grievously by so doing. 

" In Ireland or France two Catholics cannot contract marriage validly except 
in the presence of the parish priest or his deputy. A Catholic and a Protestant 
with a domicile in Ireland may contract marriage validly without the presence 
of a priest. Could they in France? The answer is disputed." (Note by 
Father Gavin.) 

2 "This is correct. The writer's inaccuracies do not affect the main issue. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's marriage to George IV., being without canonical impediment, 
was undoubtedly a valid marriage according to Catholic teaching." (Note by 
Father Gavin.) 

3 This extract from the article in the Dublin Review is quoted in Langdale's 
"Memoir of Mrs. Fitzherbert." 



VALIDITY OF THE MARRIAGE 89 

After exhaustive inquiry into the whole circumstances of the 
marriage, the decision was given in Mrs. Fitzherbert's favour. 
According to the law of the Roman Catholic Church, though not 
according to the law of England, she was declared to be the 
wife of the Prince of Wales. In the judgment of the Court of 
Rome she occupied much the same position towards the Prince 
of Wales as Catherine of Arragon occupied towards Henry VIII., 
after he had put her away and married Anne Boleyn — a judg- 
ment which would be repudiated by the great bulk of the English 
people, who strongly object to "any foreign jurisdicture," and 
stoutly maintain that "The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction 
in this realm of England." ^ This decision was obtained -for 
the personal satisfaction of Mrs. Fitzherbert, and was kept 
private. But to Roman Cathohcs it was all sufficient. "Roma 
locuta est, causa finita est.^^ 

There remains the Anglican view of the validity of the mar- 
riage, i.e., of the ecclesiastical law of England as against the 
civil. This is more conflicting; but since the Prince of Wales 
was a member of the Church of England, it has to be considered. 
According to the Erastian view, the Church of England is subject 
to the State, and not only as regards her temporalities, but in 
questions of doctrine and discipline, faith and morals, she is 
dominated by the civil power. Parliament therefore has the 
right not only to arrange the marriage laws (a power, be it noted, 
which is claimed by the legislative bodies in other civilised 
states), but to force its decision upon the Church, which is 
bound to accept whatever regulation of the marriage law Par- 
liament may enact. In the case of the Royal Marriage Act, it 
was an act brought forward at the instance of the Sovereign, 
who is the temporal head of the Church, and it passed through 
Parliament with the consent of the Lords Spiritual, none of 
whom protested against it. It is contended, therefore, that so 
long as the Church is united to the State, the Royal Marriage 
Act is binding on the Church of England. 

But it is submitted, on the other hand, by many who are 

1 The Book of Common Prayer, Article XXXVII.: Of the Civil Magistrates. 
Even more strongly was this expressed in the oath of allegiance in the "Bill 
of Rights." "And I do declare that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state or 
potentate hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre- 
eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or civil, within this realm. So help me 
God!" 



90 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

amongst the most learned and loyal members of the Church of 
England, that neither the Sovereign nor Parhament has any 
right to force upon the Church any law affecting the doctrine 
and discipline of the Church without her consent. They 
argue that, according to the Reformation settlement, no change 
can be made in the Church's formularies without the consent 
of the Sovereign, the two houses of Convocation representing 
the Bishops and the clergy, and Parliament representing the 
laity.^ The marriage law of the Church of England remained 
virtually the same before and after the Reformation, and was 
settled on the general lines which prevail in the Western 
Church.^ 

After the accession of George I. the Erastian view gained 
the upper hand, and in 171 7 Convocation was prorogued by the 
Government sine die, for protesting against the appointment of 
a free-thinking Bishop.^ The clergy had no longer any means 
of making their voices heard, except through the Bishops in the 
House of Lords, who were appointed by the State. When the 
Royal Marriage Act was passed in 1772 Convocation was not 
consulted, for the simple reason that it did not exist. There- 
fore, argued certain canonists, the Act was a breach of the 
Reformation settlement between Church and State, and an 
unwarrantable intrusion of the temporal power into the sphere 
of the spiritual. Parliament was of course able to make any 
laws it pleased, but it could not force those laws upon the Church 
of England without her consent, and in this instance no oppor- 
tunity was given to the clergy either to approve or disapprove 
of this tampering with the marriage laws. The Royal Mar- 
riage Act was therefore not binding on the conscience of the 

1 In those days the operation of the Test Acts made it impossible for any 
but members of the Church of England to have seats in Parliament. Parlia- 
ment, therefore, may be said to have represented the laity of the Church of 
England; but in these days, when it is open to Jews, and others not professing 
Christianity, such a contention is absurd. On the other hand, the power of 
Convocation to enact fresh canons without the King's licence was expressly 
taken away by a statute of Henry VIII. 

2 One of the leading laymen in the Church of England, a recognised authority 
on matters ecclesiastical, writes to me concerning this marriage, "I feel sure 
that its validity cannot be disputed; the Roman view and the Anglican would 
be identical on such a subject." 

3 Hoadly, who had been appointed Bishop of Bangor — the celebrated 
Bangorian controversy. Convocation was not permitted to sit again until the 
middle of the reign of Queen Victoria — in 1852. 



VALIDITY OF THE MARRIAGE 91 

clergy.* The canon law remained unaltered, and there was no 
canonical impediment, therefore the clergyman who performed 
the marriage between the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Fitzhcrbert 
was within his right, and the marriage was valid according to 
the authorised doctrine of the Church of England. This argu- 
ment in any case does not affect the legality or illegality of the 
marriage, but it serves to add to the difficulty of a question 
already sufficiently complicated. 

The conclusion of the whole matter seems to be this. Ac- 
cording to the civil law of England the ceremony was illegal and 
the marriage was null and void. According to the canon law 
of 'the Roman Catholic Church, and also of the Church of 
England, it was valid. 

* Another conflict between the civil law and ecclesiastical may be found in 
the re-marriage of divorced persons. No clergyman can be forced to marry 
them, for the canon law of the Church forbids such marriages, treating them as 
invalid. Yet they are perfectly legal. 



CHAPTER VIII 

PERILOUS HONOURS 

(1785-1786) 

There is a tradition that the Prince of Wales and Mrs. 
Fitzherbert passed their honeymoon at her villa at Richmond. 
The legend also says that immediately after the ceremony they 
set out from Park Street for Richmond, and the road (for it 
was winter) was so blocked with snow as to be almost impassable. 
The horses broke down, and they had to sup at an inn at Ham- 
mersmith before proceeding to their destination. The honey- 
moon was but a brief one, for they were back in London by 
Christmas. 

The air was thick with rumour. "The He of the day," 
writes Robert Hobart to the Duke of Rutland, on December 
24, 1785 (after the marriage), "is that the Prince of Wales is to 
marry Mrs. Fitzherbert, but I believe, totally without founda- 
tion." ^ Again he writes on December 27, "The town still talk 
'of the Prince of Wales's marriage. He has taken a box for 
Mrs. Fitzherbert at the Opera, and constantly passes the 
greater part of the night with her. I do not hear of Prince 
Carnaby's being yet arrived in town.^ Watt Smith^ appears 
already much elated with the honour that is intended, or rather 
the dishonour which has already attended, his family. His 
Royal Highness's new establishment is not yet named, but no 
doubt the Marchioness of Buckingham^ will be first lady of the 
bedchamber, and her aunt. Peg Nugent, necessary woman. 
If pride, arrogance, and self-sufficiency be qualities for a Popish 

1 Rutland Papers, Hist. MSS. Comm. 14th Report, Appendix, Part I. 

2 Sir Carnaby Haggerston, Bart., Mrs. Fitzherbert's brother-in-law, who 
lived at Grantham, not far from Bel voir. 

3 Mrs. Fitzherbert's eldest brother. 

" The Marquess of Buckingham was (1782-83) Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; 
the Marchioness was suspected of leanings to Popery. 

92 



PERILOUS HONOURS 93 

Minister, the noble Marquis himself, by embracing that rehgion 
which he appeared to encourage in his wife, may be at the head 
of the Papistical Court." ^ Sir Gilbert Elliot writes to his wife 
(December 1785): "She (Lady Palmerston) says the report is 
that Mrs. Fitzherbert is, or is to be, at Carlton House ; that she 
was married by a Roman CathoHc priest, is to have ;^6ooo a 
year, and is to be created a duchess." ^ 

Of course that arch-gossip, Horace Walpole, soon made the 
marriage the subject of his letters. He writes to Sir Horace 
Mann, February 13, 1786, "I am obhged to you for your account 
of the House of Albany (the royal house of Stuart), but that 
extinguishing Family can make no sensation here, when we 
have other guess-work to talk of in a higher and more flour- 
ishing race ; and yet were rumour — aye, and much more than 
rumour, every voice in England — to be credited, the mat- 
ter [Mrs. Fitzherbert's marriage], somehow or other, reaches 
even from London to Rome. I know nothing but the buzz 
of the day, nor can say more upon it. If I send you a riddle, 
fame or echo from so many voices will soon reach you, 
and explain the enigma ; though I hope it is essentially void 
of truth, and that appearances arise from a much more com- 
mon cause." ^ 

It was not long before the gossip of the town reached the 
ears of the King and Queen. The relations between the Prince 
and his parents were still strained. The King habitually spoke 
of him with bitterness; but Queen Charlotte, though she made 
common cause with the King, and seemed to approve of his 
harsh treatment of the Prince, was in her peculiar way devoted 
to her first-born son, for whom she cared more than for all her 
other children. She was keenly interested in his every move- 
ment, and there were plenty of people in high places who were 
wilhng to gratify her maternal curiosity. The King and Queen 
had often discussed the Prince's infatuation for Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
The Queen had found out all about her character and antece- 
dents. This was not difficult, for she came of a well-known 
family, and Queen Charlotte had received her at court after 

^ Rutland Papers, op. cit. 

2 "Life and Letters of Sir Gilbert Elliot, first Earl of Minto," 1874. Lady 
Palmerston was mother of the great Lord Palmerston. 

3 "Horace Walpole's Letters," ed. 1859, vol. ix. 



94 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

her marriage to Mr. Fitzherbert. Presentation at court in 
those days was more hmited than now, and the Roman CathoHcs 
who attended were comparatively few. The King and Queen 
were also well acquainted with the Weld family, more especially 
with Mr. Thomas Weld (Mrs. Fitzherbert's brother-in-law), 
and visited him at Lulworth. The Queen knew her eldest 
son's character too well to take him seriously, and his extrava- 
gance of passion for Mrs. Fitzherbert had at first afforded her 
cynical amusement, while the King made it a subject for taunting 
the Prince. They never imagined that the folly would lead to 
marriage; besides, they knew such a marriage would be illegal, 
and therefore, from their point of view, impossible. The King 
deplored his son's infatuation, but the news of Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
return to England could not have made him very anxious. 
Both he and the Queen probably thought (if they thought about 
the matter at all) that the lady had surrendered at discretion. 
But presently the rumour came that the Prince of Wales had 
actually gone through a ceremony of marriage with this Roman 
Catholic lady. They knew not what to think, for the rumour 
was so persistent, so circumstantial, that it could not be ignored. 
If true, they regarded it as the crowning act of folly and filial 
disobedience. 

The Court was at Windsor for Christmas; the King had not 
seen his son for months, and would not see him; but Queen 
Charlotte is said to have sent for the Prince of Wales as soon 
as the news reached her ears, and demanded to know the truth. 
It is very unlikely that the Prince told her the truth. The inter- 
view which took place between mother and son (if it took place 
at all) must have been in private, and the categorical account 
of the conversation between them given by one writer must be 
dismissed as imaginary. The Prince, we are told, not only 
avowed his marriage (which, of course, the Queen would not 
admit to be a marriage at all), but swore that no power on 
earth should separate him from his wife. He then addressed 
the Queen as follows: "I beg further that my wife be received 
at court, and proportionately as your Majesty receives her, and 
pays her attention from this time, so shall I render my attentions 
to your Majesty. The lady I have married is worthy of all 
homage, and my very confidential friends, with some of my 
wife's relations, only witnessed our marriage. Have you not 



PERILOUS HONOURS 95 

always taught me to consider myself heir to the first sovereignty 
in the world ? Where, then, will exist any risk of obtaining the 
ready concurrence from the House in my marriage ?" ^ &c. &c. 
The Prince said a great many foohsh things in his life, but it is 
certain that he never said to his mother anything so foohsh as 
this. He probably equivocated with her, as it was his habit 
with every one when asked a direct question. It is still more 
unlikely that the Queen was softened by such reasoning; she 
would have become harder than ever. The further statement 
of Dr. Doran (who quotes the conversation), "that it is certain 
that her Majesty received Mrs. Fitzherbert at a drawing-room 
in the following year with very marked courtesy," is incorrect. 
The printed hsts of Queen Charlotte's drawing-rooms contain 
no mention of Mrs. Fitzherbert's name after she went through 
the ceremony of marriage with the Prince of Wales. On the 
contrary, the fact that she did not go to Court occasioned com- 
ment, both in society and in the press. The following para- 
graph was given special prominence in the Morning Post a 
year or two later: "A Question. What is the reason that 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, who is a lady of fortune and fashion, never 
appears at court ? She is visited by some ladies of high rank, 
has been in public with them, and yet never goes to the Draw- 
ing-rooms at St. James's. This question is sent for publi- 
cation by a Person who pays no regard to idle reports, but who 
wishes to have the mystery cleared up." ^ 

But though this conversation may be dismissed as spurious, 
and the Prince's avowal of his marriage also, there is little 
doubt that an interview took place between the Queen and the 
Prince, on the subject of Mrs. Fitzherbert; and enough passed 
to convince the Queen that this was no common amour. The 
Queen was greatly annoyed that her son should entangle him- 
self, and in the first flush of her displeasure she could not help 
regarding Mrs. Fitzherbert with disfavour. But with character- 
istic common-sense, the Queen, seeing that nothing could be 
done, resolved to make the best of the situation. She knew that, 
whatever had passed, her son was free, in law, to marry, and 
she trusted to time to wear out his infatuation, and to his well- 

* Doran's "Lives of the Queens of England." 

^Morning Post, Oct. lo, 1788. Needless to say, this impertinent question 
was never answered. 



96 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

known character to make him take advantage of his freedom 
when that time came. 

The fact that Mrs. Fitzherbert no longer went to court 
made Httle difference to her social position. The Duchess of 
Cumberland was not received at court, but she was openly- 
acknowledged everywhere as the Duchess. Neither was the 
Duchess of Gloucester received at court until many years after 
her marriage was declared. Mrs. Fitzherbert's non-attendance 
at court meant no reflection on her personal character, but it 
meant that, like the Duchess of Cumberland (and, for a time, 
the Duchess of Gloucester), she was under the ban of the royal 
displeasure. It was the necessary consequence of the equivocal 
position in which she had placed herself. The dubious attitude 
adopted towards her by Queen Charlotte was a sample of what 
Mrs. Fitzherbert found she had to face from the world in general. 
She, who had never before suffered the faintest whisper against 
her fair name, now found herself the subject of much scandalous 
gossip among her acquaintances, and the butt of the open abuse 
of the vulgar. It was part of the price she had to pay for fol- 
lowing the dictates of her heart; and she paid it, if not without 
suffering, at least without a murmur. ' No reproaches escaped 
her lips, no hint of retaliation, nor any attempt at explanation; 
she shrank from the publicity which was thrust upon her, but 
she did not show herself afraid. So far from courting public 
notice, she altered her manner of life as little as possible. She 
still kept the name of Fitzherbert, she still used the Fitzherbert 
Hveries, and she drove about in a very quiet equipage. She 
still maintained her separate establishment ; she lived in her own 
house at Richmond, and the Prince at Carlton House. But 
when she came to London, residence in Park Street being no 
longer desirable, she rented for a time Lord Uxbridge's furnished 
mansion in St. James's Square. This she did at the Prince's 
request, for he wished her to be nearer to him. He also took 
for her a box at the Opera, and in this box he was seen with 
her almost every night. 

To do the Prince justice, short of openly acknowledging the 
marriage, he did everything in his power to secure for Mrs, 
Fitzherbei't respect and consideration. He ca,used it to be 
announced among all his friends and intimates that honour 
paid to Mrs. Fitzherbert was honour paid to him. He made it 



PERILOUS HONOURS 97 

a condition that at all private parties and entertainments 
which he honoured with his presence she was to be invited 
also. If she were not asked he would not go. He further 
insisted that in her case the ordinary rules of precedence were 
to be waived, and at all entertainments she was always to be 
seated at the same table as himself; and in public, when the 
eyes of all were fixed upon him, he always paid her the most 
courtly deference, which the "first gentleman in Europe" knew 
well how to assume. His manner towards her was exactly 
that with which a husband would treat an honoured wife, and 
manners at that period were much more formal than they are 
now. "The Prince," said one who knew him in those early 
days, ''never forgot to go through the form of saying to Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, with the most respectful bow, 'Madam, may I be 
allowed the honour of seeing you home in my carriage?'" 
The same writer bears testimony to the "extreme fascination 
of his manners." ^ 

But if the Prince had great influence in the world of fashion, 
he was not all powerful. Among his friends he reigned su- 
preme, and they included many of the great Whig families. 
But the Tory houses were by no means prepared to follow his 
lead blindly in social matters. He could not force people to 
receive Mrs. Fitzherbert, since he would not acknowledge her 
to be his wife. Her position at first was one of considerable 
difficulty and embarrassment. Even her relatives were for a 
time divided against her. Her brothers, it is true, championed 
her cause, but their indiscreet advocacy did more harm than 
good. The Erringtons stood by her, and so did the Hagger- 
stons, but the Welds and Fitzherberts regarded her with doubtful 
approval, and the Seftons avoided her. Lady Sefton's defection 
was, perhaps, the most serious blow Mrs. Fitzherbert had to 
endure from the social point of view, for she had made her 
debut in fashionable London under her wing; but in time Lady 
Sefton came round. At first the great majority of her friends 
knew not what to think. It seemed a thing impossible that a 
woman of Mrs. Fitzherbert's character and position should 
dishonour herself and disgrace her family by becoming the 
mistress of the Prince of Wales. To those who knew her well 

1 Lady C. Bury's "Diary illustrative of the Times of George IV." 



98 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

the thing was unthinkable, and yet, how could she become his 
wife in the face of recent legislation? If some form, or cere- 
mony, of marriage had taken place, why was it not definitely 
stated? The Prince could not be questioned directly on such 
a matter, and his friends met all questions on his behalf with 
evasions or denials. Mrs. Fitzherbert had no answer but. 
silence. She had done nothing against her conscience, she 
maintained, and the rest must take its chance. But it was 
noticed that she still openly practised her religion. She was 
visited by her spiritual director, and continued to attend Mass 
at the Warwick Street Chapel. This, her Roman Catholic 
friends argued, would have been impossible unless her confessor 
were satisfied that she was not living in sin; and though many 
of them could not approve of the step she had taken, which 
they regarded as dangerous and unwise, they were satisfied 
that she was really married to the Prince according to the re- 
quirements of their Church. Having satisfied themselves on 
this point, they silently supported her by their social influence, 
which in many cases was considerable. The view generally 
taken of Mrs. Fitzherbert's conduct by those of her religion is 
well put by Lady Jerningham, who, writing to her daughter, 
Lady Bedingfield, March 6, 1786, says: "Mrs. Fitzherbert is 
generally beheved to have been married to the Prince, but it is 
a very hazardous proceeding, as there are two Acts of Parlia- 
ment against the validity of such an alHance, concerning her 
being a subject and her being a Catholick. God knows how 
it will turn out — it may be to the glory of our Belief, or it may 
be to the great dismay and destruction of it." ^ 

The support given to Mrs. Fitzherbert at this juncture did 
not come only from the old Roman Catholic families. The 
Duchess of Devonshire frequently appeared in pubhc with her, 
and she was a constant and honoured guest at Devonshire House. 
The Duchess of Devonshire's example was followed by nearly all 
the great Whig ladies, though here and there one, like the Duchess 
of Portland, at first held aloof. They called upon her, invited 
her to their parties, and treated her with every courtesy. 

Another good friend of Mrs. Fitzherbert's was Lady Cler- 
mont, who held a great position in the society of that day. 

> "The Jerningham Letters," op. cit. 




MRS. FITZHERBERT 

{From the Pahiting ty ]OYLn RusSELL, R.A., at Szvy?inerton, ly permission of 
Basil Fitzherbert, Esq.) 



PERILOUS HONOURS 



99 



Lady Clermont was a woman of advanced age, who had main- 
tained a stainless reputation throughout her long hfe. She was 
a great friend of Marie Antoinette, as well as of Queen Char- 
lotte, and was a welcome guest both at Versailles and St. 
James's. Lord and Lady Clermont were aristocrats of the old 
school, courtly and dignified in their manners, and with a high 
sense of noblesse oblige. At their house in Berkeley Square 
they entertained with stately hospitality. They had the best 
chej and wines in London, and invitations to the Clermonts' 
dinners and assemblies were eagerly sought. The Prince of 
Wales often dined with them, and so did Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
Lady Clermont held her in high esteem, and always supported 
her. Mrs. Fitzherbert's goodness, her dignity, and her reserve 
all appealed to this grande dame of a generation fast passing 
away. She was entirely on her side, and bold were they who 
presumed to question where Lady Clermont approved. 

On the Tory side was the Marchioness of Salisbury, who 
prided herself on taking a line of her own. Lady Salisbury 
was a great lady of a very different type to the Duchess of 
Devonshire. It was well said "that while the Duchess of 
Devonshire never seemed to be conscious of her rank. Lady 
Salisbury ceased not for an instant to remember hers, or to 
compel others to remember it also." She was a woman of 
great ability, a clever conversationalist, but dictatorial and 
obstinate. She had known Mrs. Fitzherbert before her connec- 
tion with the Prince of Wales, and as she was convinced that 
she would do nothing wrong, she continued to welcome her to 
her house. Lady Salisbury had parties on Sunday evening, and 
she would not give them up, though appealed to by the Bishop 
of London. All her habits were conservative, and she retained 
her sedan chair, and running footmen with blue-and- silver liv- 
eries, long after these things had been generally given up.^ 

Mrs. Fitzherbert was tacitly accorded a position sui generis, 
and supported by her friends she soon succeeded in living down 
the greater part of the opposition against her. That she did so 
was also due to her tact, her amiability, her unassuming man- 

1 Lady Salisbury was the daughter of the first Marquis of Downshire, and 
married in 1773 James, first Marquis of Salisbury. Her death was a terrible 
one; she lost her life in the great fire at Hatfield House in 1835, at the age of 
eighty-five. 



100 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

ners, her kindness of heart, and the straightforwardness of her 
character. The young Prince at this time loved her with a love 
that was almost adoration. His "white rose" he called her, 
partly because of her Jacobite ancestry, partly because of her 
pale fair loveliness, but chiefly because of her innate purity; and 
white roses were always her favourite flower. In the world it 
was noted in Mrs. Fitzherbert's favour that the Prince had 
greatly improved. The change for the better in his habits and 
conversation was marked, and could only be ascribed to the 
influence of a good woman. The young Prince, in spite of his 
wildness and folly, had ingrained in him a strong love of domes- 
ticity, which he had inherited perhaps from his German ances- 
tors. In his youth his home had been unhappy, and his parents 
unsympathetic ; then he was thrown upon the town without any 
home-life at all. But this beautiful and gracious woman, with 
her purity of purpose and unobtrusive goodness, made a home 
for him such as he had never known before. Though the 
Prince of Wales's public life belonged to the nation, his home 
life was his own. He had the right to ask that it should be 
kept sacred, and none should grudge him the quiet hours he 
spent under the roof of the woman he loved, and who believed 
herself bound to him by the hoHest ties. Here, at least, they 
might have found sanctuary. Mrs. Fitzherbert usurped no 
one's place, interfered with no one, and put forward no preten- 
sions. The Prince made no claim on her behalf, either from 
Parliament or from the nation. All that they asked at this time 
was to be left alone, to enjoy their happiness in their own way. 
But the fierce curiosity of the world, which is always meddling 
in the private affairs of other people, refused to leave them in 
peace. Were they married or were they not? remained the 
absorbing question. The denials of the Prince's friends counted 
for little, for people remembered how emphatically the rumour 
of the marriage between the Duke of Gloucester and Lady 
Waldegrave had been denied, and yet it proved to be true after 
all. The accounts of Mrs. Fitzherbert's marriage were cate- 
gorical, and the fact that she was supported and visited by many 
ladies of the first fashion lent the weight of corroborative evi- 
dence. With the pubhc the opinion gained ground that a 
marriage had taken place. The Marquis of Lothian wrote to 
the Duke of Rutland, March 4, 1786, "You ask me my opinion 



PERILOUS HONOURS loi 

respecting the Prince's marriage. I think it has all the appear- 
ance of being true. I beheve, when he has been spoken to 
about it, he has been violent, but I cannot find out that he has 
denied it peremptorily. He has said to one of the most intimate 
in his family [household], when asked on the subject, that he 
might answer, if asked the question, in the negative. But 
surely a report of this sort, were it not true, should be pubhcly 
contradicted, and I am amazed that some member of Pariiament 
has not mentioned it in the House. Most people believe it, and 
I confess I am one of the number. Though I dined alone with 
him, and you know the general topic of his conversation about 
women, he never mentioned her to me amongst others. I am 
very sorry for it, for it does him infinite mischief, particu- 
larly amongst the trading and lower sort of people, and if 
true must ruin him in every light." * 

This was the view taken by many of the Prince's friends, 
especially by the leaders of the Whig party, such as the Duke 
of Portland and Fox, and their supporters in Parliament. The 
Prince had identified himself with the Whigs, a party which 
derived the greater part of its support from the middle and 
mercantile classes, most of whom were staunch Protestants and 
Nonconformists. It needed only the breath of such a rumour 
to fan the smouldering embers of Protestant prejudice into a 
No-Popery blaze. It was impossible that the Whig leaders 
should seem to connive at the secret marriage of the Heir 
Apparent with a Roman Catholic, and yet the Prince was so 
intimate with them, both in private and public life, that it was 
difficult for them to disassociate themselves altogether from his 
folhes. Their poHtical adversaries were not slow to see this, 
and began to make capital out of it. 

To add to the difficulty of the situation, the Prince had been 
so inconsiderate as to contract his alliance with Mrs. Fitzherbert 
just at a time when he was engaged in an acrimonious corre- 
spondence with the King on the subject of his money difficulties. 
The King had hitherto refused to pay a penny of the Prince's 
debts, and this fresh act of filial disobedience was not likely to 
loosen his purse-strings. The Prince wanted money badly. In 
addition to the debts arising from his habits of personal extra va- 

' "Rutland Papers," op. cit. 



102 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

gance, his building operations at Carlton House, which he had 
now resumed, were costing him a great deal of money, and his 
secret and imprudent marriage of necessity increased his em- 
barrassments. Mrs. Fitzherbert, it is true, was free from the 
reproach of avarice. She gave herself to the Prince without 
any settlements or money stipulations whatever, and she trusted 
wholly to his honour. She still enjoyed her jointure from Mr. 
Fitzherbert, which had hitherto proved sufficient for her needs; 
and she would have been quite content to make that enough, 
and not to take a penny from the Prince. But the Prince 
insisted on her living in a style more commensurate with his 
dignity. She had to set up an establishment in London, and 
to entertain him when he wished. Entertaining the Prince was 
a very expensive matter indeed. Mrs. Fitzherbert lived as 
quietly and unostentatiously as she could, but these things 
necessarily increased her expenditure. The Prince was nothing 
if not generous, and he would have given her half his income 
at this time if it had been in his power. He had no idea of the 
value of money, but Mrs. Fitzherbert knew too well his em- 
barrassments, and would not accept from him a penny more 
than the sum necessary to meet the extra expenses now entailed 
upon her, which she estimated at ;;^300o a year. That sum was 
accordingly given to her by the Prince. This, with her jointure 
of ;^20oo a year, she considered to be sufficient. True, the 
Prince made her valuable presents of jewellery and plate and 
furniture towards her new establishment. She tried in vain to 
check his liberality, though the money he spent on her was but 
a drop in the ocean of his debts. 

As the King would do nothing to help, the Prince at last 
prevailed upon Fox and Sheridan to bring the matter before 
the notice of Parliament. The time was singularly inopportune, 
for the report of his marriage to a Roman Catholic had made 
the Prince very unpopular. Fox was one of those who did not 
believe that a ceremony had taken place. Had he not the 
Prince's letter, of December ii, 1785, in which he declared that 
"there never was any ground for these reports which have of 
late been so malevolently circulated." Sheridan, on the other 
hand, was probably one of the few who knew the truth. But 
he was devoted to the Prince and also to Mrs. Fitzherbert, and 
was quite free from any excess of scruple. Fox and Sheridan 



PERILOUS HONOURS 103 

raised the question of the Prince of Wales's income early in 
April 1786, during a debate in the House of Commons on the 
Civil List. The facts and arguments that Fox brought forward 
seem unanswerable. "It is my conviction," he said, "that the 
dignity of the Crown, and even the national advantage, require 
that the Heir-Apparent should be enabled to live, not merely 
in ease, but in splendour. Under George I., when the Civil 
List amounted only to ;;^7oo,ooo a year, the Prince of Wales 
(afterwards George II.) had an allowance of ;^ioo,ooo a year. 
Yet now, when in consequence of the suppressions made in the 
King's household the Civil List may be fairly estimated at 
;^95o,ooo a year, only £50,000 are given to the Prince of 
Wales. If His Majesty, as is evident by the demands of this 
evening (the Civil List showed a deficit of over ;^2oo,ooo, and 
the King asked Parliament to make this good), cannot make the 
former sum cover his expenses, how can it be expected that His 
Royal Highness is to hve upon the last-mentioned income?" 

Fox's arguments produced no effect. Members, even on the 
Whig benches, listened in silence. Only Alderman Newnham, 
member of parliament for the City of London, supported Fox. 
Pitt, speaking in the name of the Government, in his most 
frigid and contemptuous tones, merely said, "he was not in- 
structed to make any communication to the House respecting 
the branches of the Royal Family : that he should avoid the pre- 
sumption of expressing any private opinion on the subject." 

Pitt's answer was only to be expected, but the chilling silence 
with which Fox's words were greeted by his supporters in the 
House brought home to the Whig leaders, and also to the popu- 
larity-loving Prince, more forcibly than anything else had done, 
the damage which the rumour of his secret marriage was doing 
him with the nation. The Prince, therefore, without doors, 
became more definite in his denials. 

Thomas Orde writes to the Duke of Rutland, May 16, 
1786: "The reports about the Prince of Wales are full of con- 
tradictions. It is certain that many of the persons said to be 
present were not there, and the clergyman who is supposed to 
have performed the marriage ceremony (Parson Johnes) had, 
as Lord S [outhampton] assures me, no share in it. The Prince 
denies the thing, but has at the same time dropped hints of her 
behef in the connection, and has wished, therefore, that their 



104 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

happiness may not be interrupted by conjectures and rumours. 
This, however, gives reason to imagine that some ceremony has 
passed. 

"His Royal Highness was present at the marriage of Lady 
H — W — with Mr. C — , and after the ceremony the Duchess 
of B. unthinkingly turned to his Royal Highness, and said, 
'She supposed this to be the first marriage at which he had 
been present.' The Prince assured her Grace with great energy 
that it really was the first. The Duchess hereupon recollected 
her jaux pas, and was confounded.^ The conduct of her 
(Mrs. Fitzherbert's) friends is very different. Some of them 
see her and countenance her, others totally avoid her." ^ 

It may be supposed that the topic was not confined to 
private letters. The press, then far less restrained than now, 
continued to teem with scarcely veiled innuendoes and scan- 
dalous rumours. Some journals maintained that "some sort 
of marriage" had taken place, others stoutly denied it. Nor 
did the caricaturists, those inevitable satirists on the follies of 
the day, linger behind. Prints and cartoons on the subject 
of the marriage were published in great number and variety; 
they were exposed in the shop windows, and even sold in the 
streets, to the great delight of the vulgar. All, or nearly all, 
of them were wide of the facts, and many were exceedingly 
scurrilous. It was an age of coarseness, and the licence per- 
mitted to the caricaturists was great. 

We may dismiss most of these prints to the limbo of their 
deserved obscurity, but the cartoons of the celebrated carica- 
caturist, Gillray,^ on the Fitzherbert marriage call for notice, 

1 Wilkes relates this anecdote in a different manner. "The Bishop of B. 
told me that a most respectable lady of his particular friendship said to him, 
'The Prince came in here yesterday, overjoyed, saying, "I never did better in 
anything. I behaved incomparably well. I could not have thought it, as the 
case was quite new to me." The lady answered, "Your Royal Highness always 
behaves well. What was the case that was quite new to you?" The Prince 
replied, "I was at a marriage, and gave the bride away." The lady said, 
"Was Your Royal Highness never at a marriage before?" The Prince an- 
swered, laying his right hand with eagerness upon his breast, "Never, upon my 
honour!"'" — Wilkes' "Letters to His Daughter," vol. iii. p. 299. 

^ " Rutland Papers," op. cit. 

3 James Gillray (175 7-18 15). Gillray was then at the zenith of his fame, 
and his caricatures on Mrs. Fitzherbert's marriage, &c., were mostly issued by 
Miss Humphrey, 29 St. James's Street, where he lived. As each new cartoon 
appeared, her shop window was surrounded by a curious crowd. 



PERILOUS HONOURS 



105 



if only because of their influence on contemporary thought. 
They were printed and sold by thousands, and found their way 
(one or another) into nearly every important house in the king- 
dom; they formed a never-ending source of conversation and 
amusement. It is not too much to say that Gillray's caricatures 
did more than anything else to drag Mrs. Fitzherbert into un- 
wilUng publicity. They also gave credence to the persistent 
rumour that a secret marriage had taken place between her and 
the Prince of Wales. Notwithstanding the denials, authorised 
and unauthorised, and despite all appearances to the contrary, 
this remained a fixed behef in the popular mind so long as they 
both lived. There is no need to describe these cartoons in 
detail. One will serve as a specimen of the rest. It is entitled, 
" Wife or no Wije, or a Trip to the Continent" designed by Carlo 
Khan (Charles Fox). Burke, in cassock and biretta, as a Jesuit 
priest, is conducting the marriage ceremony at the altar. The 
Prince of Wales is placing a wedding ring on Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
finger. Her headdress is composed of three ostrich feathers, 
and the ring is of unusual size (a reference to the popular 
rumour that the ring used at the Park Street ceremony was 
borrowed for the emergency). Fox is giving away the bride, an 
allusion to the Tory fiction that the Whig leader had planned 
the marriage in order to secure a greater influence over the 
Prince. Sheridan and George Hanger (a boon companion of 
the Prince) are witnesses, and Lord North, dressed as a stage 
coachman who has acted as driver to the runaway couple (or 
as John Bull), is fast asleep in a corner. 

The pohtical animus of this print was obvious. It was 
designed to throw the onus of this unpopular marriage on the 
shoulders of the Whig leaders, who, knowing the accusation to 
be void of truth, resented it even more strongly than the per- 
sonages most concerned. The Prince, when he noticed these 
attacks at all, only referred to them in terms of jocularity, and 
this also applied to any reference to the connection between 
himself and Mrs. Fitzherbert in the public press. In this pohcy 
of laissez faire he was advised by Mrs. Fitzherbert, for she always 
(except in one absolutely necessary instance) made it a rule to 
ignore the attacks upon her, either public or private, thus exer- 
cising a self-control as wise as it was rare. 



CHAPTER IX 

CARLTON HOUSE AND BRIGHTON 

(1786) 

Mrs. Fitzherbert found the brilliant society of the Prince's 
circle very different from the quiet Cathohc atmosphere in which 
she had lived the greater part of her life. The staid Roman 
Catholic famihes, with their narrow outlook and stately old- 
world manners, bore no more resemblance to the merry, reckless 
throng at Carlton House than a nun bears to a woman of 
pleasure. The creed of the Prince of Wales and his friends was 
one of pure hedonism — "Carpe diem, Juan, carpe, carpe," 
was their motto. Carlton House was a court of pleasure pure 
and simple. 

The London season of 1786 was one of unusual gaiety. 
The depression which had followed on the American War had 
vanished like a mist, except at St. James's, where the King still 
unavailing] y lamented the loss of "my American colonies," and 
curtailed in consequence his few and dull entertainments. The 
Court having practically abdicated its functions, society in 
London looked to the Prince of Wales to give it a lead, and he 
responded with a will, for pleasure was to him the breath of his 
nostrils. Always associated with him now was "the lovely 
Fitzherbert." Her house in St. James's Square, where she 
dispensed gracious hospitality, was a favourite meeting-place of 
his intimates. She accompanied the Prince to every entertain- 
ment or assembly he honoured with his presence, and she was 
received, if not with the formal homage accorded to a Princess 
of Wales, yet with a delicate deference which was in itself a 
recognition of her unique position. By little acts of consider- 
ation, if not by words, she was tacitly accorded the position of 
the Prince's wife by all the great ladies who gave her their 
friendship. Of these a new one had arrived upon the scene in 
the person of the Duchess of Cumberland, the wife of the King's 
youngest brother. The Duke and Duchess of Cumberland had 

106 



CARLTON HOUSE AND BRIGHTON 107 

been living at Avignon for the sake of economy, and they were 
in France at the time when the Prince of Wales went through 
the marriage ceremony with Mrs. Fitzherbert. But in the 
spring of 1786 they returned to London, and threw open to 
the fashionable world the doors of their beautiful mansion, 
Cumberland House, in Pall Mall, which adjoined Carlton House. 
The Duchess of Cumberland received once a week, and her 
rooms were thronged with distinguished guests. The King's 
threat that he would receive no one at court who visited Cumber- 
land House had proved an empty one. So general was the 
response to the Duchess's invitations, that the King could not 
have enforced it without excluding from his court half of London 
society, and that half the more brilliant. The Duke of Cum- 
berland, though he was anything but wise, and before his 
marriage anything but moral, had charming manners; his 
Duchess had succeeded in reforming him. As to the Duchess, 
there was nothing to be urged against her except that she had 
entrapped the Duke into marrying her, and many people said 
she was much too good for him. In 1786 she was no longer 
young, but she was still a very handsome, fascinating woman. 
Even Horace Walpole, who cherished a malevolent hatred of 
both the Duke and the Duchess, and said all he could to their 
detriment, was forced to admit her charm. "The new Princess 
of the Blood," he wrote at the time of her marriage, "is a 
young widow of twenty-four, extremely pretty, not handsome, 
very well made, with the most amorous eyes in the world, and 
eyelashes a yard long; coquette beyond measure, artful as Cleo- 
patra, and completely mistress of all her passions and projects. 
Indeed eyelashes three-quarters of a yard shorter would have 
served to conquer such a head as she has turned." ^ And again 
he thus describes her: "There was something so bewitching in 
her languishing eyes, which she could animate to enchantment 
if she pleased, and her coquetry was so active, so varied, and yet 
so habitual, that it was difficult not to see through it, and yet as 
difficult to resist it. She danced divinely, and had a great deal 
of wit, but of the satiric kind; and as she had haughtiness before 
her rise, no wonder she claimed all the observances due to her 
rank, after she became Duchess of Cumberland." ^ 

' Walpole's "Letters," vol. v. ed. 1857. 
- Walpole's "Memoirs," vol. iv. 



io8 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

The Duchess did the honours of her house with affabiUty 
and dignity. Her unmarried sister, Lady Ehzabeth Luttrell, 
aided her on these occasions, but she had not her sister^s dignity 
— her manners were unpolished, and her conversation broad. 
The Prince of Wales and Mrs. Fitzherbert invariably attended 
the weekly assemblies at Cumberland House, and the Duchess 
treated Mrs. Fitzherbert exactly as though she were the Prince's 
acknowledged wife, and showed her marked friendship. There 
may have been a spice of mahce in this, for the Duchess knew 
how her recognition of Mrs. Fitzherbert would annoy the King 
and Queen. 

Queen Charlotte detested the Duchess, and declared that 
she and the Duke pandered to the Prince of Wales's follies in 
order to keep their hold on him. She spoke of Cumberland 
House as though it were a hotbed of iniquity. Certainly the 
play there was high, but everything was conducted with pro- 
priety.^ 

At Carlton House Mrs. Fitzherbert was now the presiding 
divinity, and at all parties to which ladies were invited Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, by the Prince's wish and desire, played the part 
of hostess. She was the central star of a brilliant constellation. 
The Prince's court was far from being the style of Epicurus, 
which some have depicted it. To quote a contemporary writer : 
"Carlton House was the centre in which genius, taste, and wit 
were to be found, and to which elegance, beauty, and refinement 
in the fair sex most amply resorted. Never, perhaps, had 
society in England boasted such an union of the most brilliant 
qualities of the human mind as was assembled at the table of 
His Royal Highness; never had female charm shown with more 
dazzling lustre than at the parties where ladies were admitted." ^ ' 

The names of such beautiful and brilHant women as the 
Duchess of Cumberland, the Duchess of Devonshire, the 
Duchess of Rutland, Lady Melbourne, Lady Clare, Lady Cler- 
mont, Mrs. Crewe, Mrs. Sheridan, and others too numerous to 
be mentioned here, form a guarantee of the truth of this state- 
ment. Nor were the male habitues of Carlton House one whit 

1 The French Embassy, then at Hyde Park Corner, was another centre of 
pleasure. The French Ambassador, Comte d'Adhemar, gave Sunday evening 
parties, which Mrs. Fitzherbert and the Prince of Wales frequently attended. 
The Duke of Orleans was much in England at this time. 

^Adolphus's "History of George III." London, 1841, vol. iii. 



CARLTON HOUSE AND BRIGHTON 109 

inferior to the women. The Prince had his wild -companions 
doubtless, but among his chosen intimates were many men 
whose reputation stood high in the State by virtue of their 
character and commanding abihties. When we remember that 
the Prince was only twenty-four years of age, it is remarjcable 
that he should have been able to attract to his side, and to hold 
his own with, men so distinguished in their several ways as 
Fox, Sheridan, Burke, Grey, Francis, Windham, Erskine, and 
many more, each of whom by virtue of his talents was deemed 
an ornament to any society. It is a proof of his abilities which 
cannot be explained away, even by his most determined de- 
tractors.^ Of Fox we have already spoken, of the others, 
Sheridan ^ formed an admirable type. He had not been many 
years in Parliament, and had already attained the height of 
celebrity as a man of letters and as a pohtician. His social 
quahties, his brilhant and ready wit, and his serenity of temper, 
which nothing rufifled, made him a great favourite with the 
Prince, to whom he filled the post of confidential adviser. He 
was a young man, still in the thirties, and his handsome features 
had not yet been marred by his excesses in wine. Very different 
was the eloquent Burke,^ who had a special hnk with Mrs. 
Fitzherbert from the fact that he was half a Roman CathoHc. 

^ Thackeray, who could see no good in George IV., writes: "At first he 
made a pretence of having Burke, and Fox, and Sheridan for his friends. But 
how could such men be serious before such an empty scapegrace as this lad? 
Fox might talk dice with him, and Sheridan wine; but what else had these men 
of genius in common with their tawdry young host of Carlton House?" 

Again he pours contempt in the well-known passage: "But this George, 
what was he? I look through all his life and recognise but a bow and a grin. 
I try and take him to pieces, and find silk stockings, padding, stays, a coat 
with frogs and a fur collar, a star and a blue ribbon, a pocket-handkerchief 
prodigiously scented, one of Truefitt's best nutty brown wigs reeking with oil, 
a set of teeth and a huge black stock, under-waistcoats, more under-waistcoats, 
and then nothing." ("The Four Georges.") 

Against Thackeray's rhodomontade may fairly be set the opinion of Sir 
Walter Scott. "He (Sir Walter Scott) talked to me of George IV., of whom 
he was very fond. He spoke of his intellectual faculty, which he considered 
of a very high order. He said his exalted and good breeding bespoke nothing 
but kindness and benevolence; but he also observed that when he was roused 
every inch of him was a King" (Sir WiUiam Knighton's "Memoirs," October 
3, 183 1). And it must be remembered that Sir Walter Scott knew George IV. 
and Thackeray did not. 

2 Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816), dramatist and parliamentary 
orator. 

3 Edmund Burke (1729-1797), orator and politician. 



no MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Tall, with -dignified deportment and air of command which 
impressed the House of Commons, he too could unbend at 
Carlton House, and pour forth words in his melodious voice 
that ranged from lofty flights of eloquence to polished sarcasm. 
He "v^as to the Prince a valuable ally. So in another way was 
Sir Philip Francis, the reputed author of the "Letters of Junius," 
whose biting bitterness sometimes fell in with the Prince's 
mood, and whose pen, dipped in gall, was then devoted to the 
service of the Prince's political friends.^ Another of this brilliant 
group was Charles Grey,^ who had not long left Cambridge, 
and had only this year (1786) entered ParHament, where he 
had lately made a speech which placed him in the first rank of 
debaters. He was an ardent follower of Fox, yet no two men 
could be more unlike in disposition. Grey was cold, punc- 
tilious, and priggish; but he was high-minded and honourable, 
with a strong sense of his duty to the nation. Just now, like 
all the young hope of the Whig Party, he was in high favour at 
Carlton House, but he and the Prince were too dissimilar in 
character and temperament to long remain friends. More to 
the Prince's Hking was the pohshed and wealthy Windham 
("Weathercock Windham"), who, like so many of the Prince's 
friends, dabbled in letters as well as politics; and the clever 
and crafty Erskine. Lord North was also a visitor to Carlton 
House, sometime the King's trusted Prime Minister, but now 
in opposition to Pitt, and hob-nobbing with those whom the 
King called his "enemies." He was a welcome guest at the 
Prince's convivial parties, where he was a great favourite with 
the younger men by reason of his quick wit and easy-going 
temper. He bore a striking hkeness to George III., which 
caused the Prince of Wales to suggest that "either his royal 
grandmother or North's mother must have played her husband 
false." 

It must be admitted the Prince's friends were not all as 
these, and even among them, with "Youth on the prow and 
Pleasure at the helm," too free indulgence in the wine-cup often 
led to revels which, though perhaps excusable in youth, sadly 
compromised the dignity of the men (not all of them young) 

1 Sir Philip Francis (1708-17 73), miscellaneous writer and journalist. 

2 Charles Grey, second Earl Grey (1764-1845), afterwards the Prime Minister 
who carried the Reform Bill of 1S32. 



CARLTON HOUSE AND BRIGHTON in 

who took part in them. But it must be remembered that 
drinking was deep and play was high in those days, not at 
Carkon House only, but in many of the mansions of the great. 
It must be added in the Prince's favour that, in an age when 
hard-swearing was general, the language at the Prince's assem- 
blies, though free, was never coarse, and harshly though the 
King and Queen treated him, he never sanctioned a word in 
pubhc which would seem to show a want of respect to his 
parents. 

Behind all the brilliancy and extravagance of Carlton House 
stalked the ever-growing spectre of the Prince's debts. The 
crisis came, perhaps the Prince had timed it so to come, with the 
close of the London season of this year (1786). Shortly after 
the half-year the bills came pouring in, and other claims fell 
due. The Jews would advance no more. The moneylenders 
and tradesmen waxed so importunate that it became obvious, 
even to the Prince, that something must be done, unless bailiffs 
were actually to enter his house. The subject was one of long 
and anxious discussion between the Prince and his friends. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, Sheridan, and Fox were called into council. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert urged immediate and drastic retrenchment, 
and Fox agreed with her view. But Sheridan advised that one 
more appeal should first be made to the Government. Pitt was 
approached with a demand for ;^2 50,000, that sum representing 
roughly the Prince's debts. The Prime Minister, not wishing 
to take upon himself the onus of an absolute refusal, temporised 
and equivocated, and generally behaved in so unsatisfactory a 
manner that, as Pitt wished, the Prince lost patience, and made 
a direct appeal to his father. The King affected to consider 
the matter, and with the knowledge and confidence of Pitt 
asked, as before, for another detailed statement of habilities — 
not, as the event proved, because he had any intention of paying 
the Prince's debts, but because he wanted to know on whom 
and how his son spent his money. Again the Prince fell into 
the trap. A schedule was duly furnished, and on it was found an 
item amounting to £54,000, for jewellery, plate, furniture, &c., 
which, it was said, the Prince had ordered for Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, to set her up in her new estabhshment in London. 
It was not an unreasonable amount, all things considered; but 
it served to anger the King, and furnished a pretext for him to 



112 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

refuse to help his son. The King wrote the Prince a short 
letter, in terms "not very civil," declaring that neither now, nor 
at any future time, would he sanction an increase in his son's 
allowance. 

The King's refusal was not altogether unexpected; but the 
curt, harsh terms in which his letter was written enraged the 
Prince. He showed the letter to his friends as a fresh proof 
that his father "hated" him, and that it was useless for him to 
humiliate himself before the King. Always in extremes, the 
Prince now resolved upon a decided step. He claimed to take 
it on his own initiative, and certainly he did not consult either 
Fox or Sheridan in the six hours which passed between his 
receiving the King's letter and his replying to it. This reply 
took the form of an ultimatum, in which he informed the King, 
that since he would not help him, he would immediately shut 
up Carlton House, live as a private gentleman, and set aside 
;^4o,ooo a year for the payment of his debts, so that all the 
world might know the issue between them. This threat made 
the King uncomfortable, for he had sent frequent requests to 
Parliament to pay his own debts, despite the enormous Civil 
List which he enjoyed, and he had no wish to be represented in 
an unpopular light. He temporised, and sent the Prince a 
message through Lord Southhampton, saying that he had not 
absolutely refused, and if his son took so rash a step he must 
abide by the consequences. But the Prince's blood was up; 
he refused to be played with any longer, and he replied in a 
letter intended for pubhcation, wherein, after recapitulating his 
view of the King's refusal, he said that he could not delay 
longer, not only because of "the pressing importunities of 
many indigent and deserving creditors," but because "further 
procrastination might have exposed me to legal insults." He 
would therefore reduce every expense in his household, even 
those necessary to his birth and rank, "till I have totally lib- 
erated myself from the present embarrassments that oppress 
me." ^ Brave words these, and well worthy of a high-spirited 
young prince. 

To this letter the King vouchsafed no answer. Perhaps he 
did not believe that his pleasure-loving and self-indulgent son 

1 Letter of the Prince of Wales to George III., July 9, 1786. 



CARLTON HOUSE AND BRIGHTON 113 

would act upon his words. If so, he was mistaken, Mrs 
Fitzherbert's influence strengthened the Prince in his high 
resolve. He lost not a day in carrying his words into effect. 
The half-finished work at Carlton House was stopped, and the 
workmen discharged on the moment; the scaffolding remained 
a witness to all London of the straits to which the heir-apparent 
was reduced. The state apartments at Carlton House were 
closed, the Prince retaining only a few private rooms for his 
own use. Half the servants were discharged, and those who 
were retained suffered a reduction in their wages, which it is 
only fair to say they suffered cheerfully — perhaps they thought 
that the evil day would not last long. The Prince also shut up 
his stables, and sold his horses and carriages, liveries and har- 
ness, by pubHc auction. The Prince gained little by the sale, 
a poor ;^7ooo; and the' proceeding intensely annoyed the King 
and Queen. But the epithets, "undignified," "revengeful," 
"theatrical," and so forth, which the Court party freely applied 
to the Prince's retrenchments, were hardly justified. Pique 
had, no doubt, something to do with this sudden passion for 
economy, but there was also a real and honourable desire on 
the part of the Prince to pay his just debts, and free himself 
from galhng embarrassments. It was hoped by the Prince's 
friends that this spectacle of a young and generous Prince, 
nobly striving to overcome his difficulties, would touch the heart 
of the nation. Fox took this view; and though the Prince in 
writing to the King had acted without consulting him, he thor- 
oughly approved of the course the Prince was now following. 
Indeed, Fox seems to have gone further, and to have approved, 
if not suggested, that the Prince should retire for a time to the 
Continent, where it would be easier for him to carry out his 
plan of retrenchment.'^ 

If the Prince had gone to the Continent (probably to Han- 
over) a practical object-lesson would have been presented to 
the nation of the King's impossibility to live in harmony with 
his sons, or to realise the advantage of having them in England. 
At that time three of the King's sons, unable, or unwilling, to 
stay under the paternal roof, had been sent out of the country. 
The Duke of York was in Hanover, Prince William was at sea, 

1 Vide Letter of the Prince of Wales to Mr. Fox, July iq, 1786. — Grev's 
"Life." 



114 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

and Prince Edward at Geneva. Arrangements were also being 
made for the expatriation of the younger Princes, as soon as 
they were old enough, to the obscure German university of 
Gottingen, which was considered by the King a superior place 
to Oxford or Cambridge for the training of English princes. 
Nor were the King's relations with his brothers any more 
fortunate. The Duke of Gloucester and his blameless Duchess 
were living at Florence, under the ban of the royal autocrat's 
displeasure. The Duke and Duchess of Cumberland had only 
a few months before returned from exile, and were in public 
disgrace at Court. Of all the King's sons "only the eldest," 
says Sir Nathanial Wraxall, "remained at'nome in a dismantled 
palace, all the state apartments of which were shut up, his 
establishment dismissed, and himself reduced in externals to 
the condition of a private gentleman." ^' 

The Princes could not all have been in the wrong and the 
King alone right. George III. was a well-meaning and con- 
scientious man, but in his dealings with his brothers and sons 
he showed himself not only unwise but harsh and despotic. 
In the case of the Prince of Wales his harshness came perilously 
near to hatred. The Queen was also to blame, for she helped 
to stir up the family discord, and, imbued with the spirit of the 
little German Court whence she came, she aided and abetted 
the King in his petty domestic tyrannies. It is no wonder that 
their high-spirited sons, born and bred in England, did not 
submit kindly to so irksome a yoke. An instance of the King's 
unwisdom in dealing with his sons was shown in the open 
ridicule which he poured upon the Prince of Wales's plan of 
economy. He made merry with his courtiers over the unfinished 
work at Carlton House, he exhibited to them a model which 
the Prince had sent him of what the palace would ultimately be 
like, and he asked derisively when it would be finished. The 
jest was not very well-timed, nor in the best of taste, for whatever 
were the Prince's extravagances he had borne for three years 
the principal burden of representing royalty in the metropolis. 
Though the Prince in his money troubles did not carry public 
sympathy with him, neither did the King in his refusal to help 
him. It was well known that in the King's Court economy 

' Wraxall's "Posthumous Memoirs." 



CARLTON HOUSE AND BRIGHTON 115 

was practised to the verge of meanness, yet the King never had 
enough money, and was frequently coming to Parhament for 
more. The nation wondered what became of the money, and 
many said it went to the Queen's needy German relatives, but 
the truth was that the greater part of it was used by the King 
for the purpose of keeping his pohtical friends in office. No 
King spent less on himself than George III., or led a simpler 
or more moral life, but pubhc opinion was not with him on this 
point; it was thought that, if the Prince had to be helped, his 
father was the one to help him. This view found expression 
in a caricature of the day, which depicted the King and Queen 
coming out of the treasury loaded with money-bags, and the 
Prince following in the rags of the prodigal son. 

But the cleverest of the satirical prints which refer to the 
breaking-up of the Prince's establishment at Carlton House 
parodies the well-known scene in Sheridan's School for Scandal. 
The Prince, as Charles Surface, holds a mock auction, and 
knocks down the family portraits. Lot i is the picture of 
"Farmer George and his Wife," which is described as going 
for "not more than one crown." Lot 2 is Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
Through the open door is seen Tattersall's and the sale of the 
Prince's stud. This sale lent credence to the rumour that the 
Prince was going to Hanover for a time. 

But the Prince did not go to Hanover. He went to Brighton. 

Brighton, or " Brighthelmstone " as it was then called, had 
not long emerged from the obscurity of a fishing village ; it bore 
little resemblance to the "London by the sea" we know to-day. 
Kemptown had not been built. King's Road had not been 
planned, and Hove was nothing but a hamlet. Brighton was 
at the beginning of its prosperous career, yet it was nearer its 
social zenith then than now, for the Heir Apparent to the throne, 
"the first gentleman in Europe," the incomparable arbiter of 
fashion, honoured it with frequent visits, and made it his favour- 
ite residence. The Prince first went to Brighton in 1783, on 
a visit to the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland, who were 
residing there for the summer; and some have it (though there 
is no proof) that he first met Mrs. Fitzherbert there. He came 
again in 1784, having been recommended sea-bathing for a 
malady to which he was always subject, a swelling of the glands 
of the throat, which, by the way, led to the wearing of the 



ii6 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

preposterously high collars and stocks which he made fash- 
ionable. This time he was followed by many of the great 
world. We read of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox being there, the Duke 
of Chartres, and the Duke of Queensberry. The Prince stayed 
in a house a little way back from the sea, surrounded by trees 
and a garden, and with a fine view. It belonged to Lord 
Egremont's brother. The Brighton air suited the Prince so 
well, and he liked the house so much, that he bought the prop- 
erty. He gave orders that most of the old house should be 
pulled down, and a new one erected. The work was begun at 
once. The Prince came down to Brighton in the summer of 
1785 to superintend the operations, and it was during this visit 
that he was said to have gone across to the French coast to see 
Mrs. Fitzherbert. By the next summer (1786) the Pavilion 
was almost finished — that is to say, so far as any house in 
which the Prince lived could ever be finished, for building was 
with him a mania. 

At this period the Marine Pavilion, as it was first called 
(later, the Royal Palace), had not taken on its present Chinese, 
pseudo-oriental aspect. The most remarkable feature of the 
building, as it was then altered for the Prince, consisted of a 
circular edifice in the centre crowned by a dome or cupola: 
this was connected by Ionic colonnades to the two wings. The 
north wing was new, but the other wing was merely adapted 
from the original villa. There were balconies and verandahs 
so as to admit air and exclude heat, and a view of the sea could 
be obtained from almost every window. Before the Pavihon, 
looking towards the sea, was a lawn, with shrubs and flowers, 
separated only from the public grounds by a low wall and 
trelhs-work, for in those days the Prince of Wales had no 
objection to see and be seen. The Pavihon, in short, was merely 
a pleasant villa, not a royal residence. It was a retreat for a 
prince, but not for his court, planned something after the manner 
of the pavihon of "Sans Souci" in the gardens of Potsdam, 
where Frederick the Great loved to pass quiet days. . It was 
some years later, when the Prince tried to convert this pleasant 
retreat into a royal palace, that it assumed the grotesque aspect 
it wears to-day. 

The Prince left his semi-dismantled palace in Pall Mall on 
July II, and, true to his new plan of retrenchment, he travelled 




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CARLTON HOUSE AND BRIGHTON 117 

down to Brighton in a hired postchaise — a fact which was 
duly noticed by the newspapers and caricaturists. One cartoon 
represents the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert leaving London in 
a hired coach. The lady is studying "The Principles of 
Economy." The coach is piled high with furniture, vegetables, 
meat, small beer, and raisin wine. Weltje, the Prince's major- 
domo, is driving. The cartoon was not correct, for Mrs. 
Fitzherbert did not accompany the Prince to Brighton, but 
followed him a fortnight later. She, also on economy bent, 
had given up her house in St. James's Square, and the delay 
in her going to Brighton arose from the need of finding a house 
for her there, as she refused, until her marriage with the Prince 
was openly acknowledged, to live under the same roof with him. 
A pretty, modest villa was found for her close to the Pavilion, 
a little house with green shutters, and separated only from the 
mansion by a strip of garden.^ 

Mrs. Fitzherbert arrived on July 24. A local authority says 
that she then "came to Brighton for the first time recorded." ^ 
But it is almost certain that she had visited Brighton before; 
she appears to have been well known there in 1782, in the days 
before she was famous, and there is a tradition that the Prince 
followed her to Brighton during his ardent courtship in the 
summer of 1784. His great liking for the place dated from that 
time, and it is said that Mrs. Fitzherbert inspired it. That is 
tradition only, but it is a fact that Mrs. Fitzherbert was devoted 
to Brighton; that she, more than any one else, confirmed the 
fickle Prince in his attachment to the place; and that his presence 
and her influence promoted the prosperity of the town. Thus 
to Mrs. Fitzherbert, equally with the Prince of Wales, Brighton 
was indebted for more than half-a-century of popularity in the 
world of fashion almost unparalleled in the history of an Enghsh 
seaside place. 

The Brighton of Mrs. Fitzherbert's day was not ungrateful 
to her. She Vv^as always welcomed there with respect, and to 
the end of her long hfe that respect never wavered. It was 
something quite apart from her connection with the Prince, 

' This villa was situated quite near to what is now the North Gate. It must 
not be confounded with the house which Mrs. Fitzherbert built to the south of 
the Pavilion, on the Steine. 

2 "The Brighton Pavilion and its Royal Associations." By J. G. Bishop. 



ii8 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

though the Prince himself was most popular with the honest 
folk of Brighton; they shouted themselves hoarse whenever he 
came; and whatever he did they, at least, were not disposed to 
be hard upon his folHes. 

The Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert passed the summer of 
1786 very quietly at Brighton. The Prince entertained little, 
and kept up no state. The wilder spirits among his friends 
were absent. Only Sheridan and a few others were there. 

The Prince superintended the improvements in the Pavilion 
(as they were so near completion they were not stopped like 
those at Carlton House). He walked with Mrs. Fitzherbert 
daily on the broad open space between the Pavihon gardens 
and the sea, known as the Steine. This became the fashionable 
parade, where during the next half-century might be met at 
various times nearly all the most celebrated men and women 
in England — all the princes, politicians, beauties, and beaux 
that made up the brilliant society of the later Georgian era. 
The Prince mixed freely with the throng on the Steine, chatting 
with those whom he knew, and bowing and smiling to the 
promenaders with ailability and good-nature. 

The Prince was now quite a reformed character; under the 
influence of Mrs. Fitzherbert he drank less, gambled not at all, 
moderated his language, and seemed in every way determined 
to lead a new life. "People talked much of the Prince of 
Wales's reform, particularly in this spot which he has chosen 
as the place of his retreat," wrote the Earl of Mornington to 
the Duke of Rutland, July 18, 1786.^ "Mrs. Fitzherbert is 
here," he added, "and they say with child." This rumour, 
which was generally credited at that time, had no foundation 
in fact. 

The marked improvement in the Prince's mode of life was 
well known at Windsor, but it made no difference to the hostility 
of the King and Queen. In August 1786, Mary Nicholson, a 
madwoman, made an attempt to stab the King, when he was 
alighting from his carriage. The moment the Prince heard 
the news he posted off to Windsor to offer his congratulations 
to his father on his escape, but the King refused to see him, 
though he was in the next room to that in which the Queen 

1 Rutland Papers, op. cit. 



CARLTON HOUSE AND BRIGHTON 119 

received her son. Mrs. Fitzherbert's great desire was to bring 
about a reconciliation between the Prince and his father. It 
was her theory that, if the Prince would only persist for a period 
in his plan of retrenchment and reform, the King's heart would 
surely soften towards him. The Prince, who knew the King 
better than she did, declared that his father would never help 
him. But he was so much under Mrs. Fitzherbert's good 
influence at this time, and so happy in her society, that he did 
whatever she wished. 



CHAPTER X 

DENIAL OF THE MARRIAGE 

(1787) 

The Prince of Wales was very little in London during the 
winter of 1 786-1 787. He was too poor to be at Carlton House, 
and he lived for the most part in houses lent to him, like that 
of the Duke of Gloucester's at Bagshot, and Lord North's at 
Bushey. He was very hard pressed for money. The Duke of 
Orleans, always his evil counsellor, urged him to accept a sub- 
stantial loan. The Duke of Portland heard of it in Paris, 
and wrote in great alarm to Sheridan, who consulted Mrs. 
Fitzherbert. They both exerted themselves to prevent the 
Prince from receiving aid from a foreign prince, and succes's- 
fully. They, urged that he only had to wait a little longer, for 
public opinion was slowly declaring itself on his side. 

The Prince had now persisted in his plan of economy for 
six months. His small debts were all settled, and a dividend of 
nine per cent, on the larger ones had been paid. The strained 
relations between the King and his son had become a public 
scandal, and reflected on the credit of the dynasty. The 
Prince's friends, and indeed many men on both sides of politics, 
thought it was time that this state of affairs ended. But the 
obstinacy of the King, and the reluctance of responsible politi- 
cians to intrude into what was primarily a family quarrel, 
seemed to render any private settlement impossible. 

Early in 1787 a meeting of the Prince's pohtical friends and 
supporters was held at Mr. Pelham's, to discuss the situation. 
The Prince was present. Some were for bringing the Prince's 
debts before Parliament, but the majority were opposed to it. 
The discussion was superficial, for in the minds of all was the 
question whether the Prince was married to Mrs. Fitzherbert 
or not. The real obstacle in the way of a Parliamentary settle- 
ment lay in the dread of a public discussion of his alleged 
marriage. Every one present knew this, but the subject was 



DENIAL OF THE MARRIAGE 121 

not so much as hinted at. It is no wonder, therefore, that the 
conference broke up without coming to any decision. The 
Duke of Portland and all of the Whig leaders, except Fox and 
Sheridan, were opposed to pledging the party to support the 
Prince. They knew how profoundly the Protestant feeling in 
the country had been stirred by the rumour of his secret marriage 
to a Roman Catholic, and they feared that they would seem to 
condone his action by advocating his case in Parhament. They 
could not understand the attitude of Fox, who was generally 
astute in reading the signs of the times. He was the Prince's 
chosen friend and mentor, and bound to him by special ties. 
Yet instead of joining with the great Whig Lords in deprecating 
any discussion of the subject, he stood apart and kept his own 
counsel. He had resolved upon independent action, and con- 
sulted neither the Prince nor his political friends. He carried 
in his pocket, unknown to any save himself, the Prince's evasive 
letter of denial, written on the eve of his marriage to Mrs. 
Fitzherbert. That letter was sufficient for Fox's purpose, and- 
there is no evidence to show that after he received it he spoke 
to. the Prince again on the subject. The Prince, we may be 
sure, did not mention the matter to him, for he never voluntarily 
alluded to unpleasant topics. Yet the papers were full of the 
marriage, and just at this awkward moment that eccentric 
pohtician. Home Tooke, added fuel to the flame of public 
curiosity by pubhshing his celebrated pamphlet on "The Re- 
ported Marriage of the Prince of Wales," in which, after treating 
the Royal Marriage Act with not unusual contempt, he wound 
up by declaring, "It is not from the debates in either house of 
Parhament that the pubhc will receive any sohd or useful 
information on a point of so much importance to the nation, 
to the Sovereign on the throne, to his royal successor, and to a 
most amiable and justly valued Female Character whom I 
conclude to be in all respects both legally, really, worthily, and 
happily for this country, her Royal Highness the Princess of 
Wales." 1 

Though the Prince maintained silence on the all-important 

1 " A Letter to a Friend on the Reported Marriage of His Royal Highness the 
Prince of Wales." By J. Home Tooke. London, 1787. 

John Home Tooke (1736-1812), politician and pamphleteer, an ex-clergy- 
man, was returned for Old Sarum 1801, but was prevented from taking his 
seat in the House by an Act passed for declaring clergymen ineligible. 



122 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

subject of his marriage, he must have know what was in the 
minds of all his friends.' He knew also why the Whig leaders 
refused to champion his cause, but he affected ignorance, and 
quarrelled with the Duke of Portland because he would not 
support his application to Parhament. But still the Prince 
persisted in his resolution of bringing the question of his debts 
before Parliament, in some form or other, and since the Whigs 
as a party would not take up the matter, it was resolved to 
entrust it to an independent member. Such a one was found 
in Alderman Newnham, member of Parliament for the city of 
London, a man of high repute in iinancial circles, though not 
of great weight in the House. The Tories said that social 
ambition was the reason of Newnham's championing this 
unpopular cause, but there appears no reason to doubt his 
sincerity. 

On April 20, 1787, Alderman Newnham rose in the House 
of Commons to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer {Mr. 
Pitt) — 

"Whether it was the design of the Ministers to bring forward 
any proposition to rescue the Prince of Wales from his present 
very embarrassed condition? for though he thought that His 
Royal Highness's conduct, during his difSculties, had reflected 
greater honour and glory on his character than the most splendid 
diadem in Europe had upon the wearer of it, yet it must be very 
disagreeable to His Royal Highness to be deprived of those 
comforts and enjoyments which so properly belonged to his 
high rank." ^ 

Mr. Pitt answered: "That as it was not his duty to bring 
forward a subject of such a nature as that suggested by the 
hon. gentleman except at the command of his Majesty, it was 
not necessary for him to say more in reply to the question than 
that he had not been honoured with such a command." 

Alderman Newnham then gave notice that he should bring 
forward a motion on May 4. 

This announcement caused considerable perturbation in the 
minds of the King and his Ministers, who were anxious to pre- 
vent a discussion which could reflect no credit on any one 
concerned in it. They could not understand the Prince's move, 

^ " Parliamentary History," vol. xxvi. (1786-1788), from which the following 
quotations and account of the debates are mainly taken. 



DENIAL OF THE MARRIAGE 123 

for they had always feh confident that he would not force matters 
to a crisis, lest the subject of his marriage should be brought 
forward. But since he was not amenable to reason, it was 
resolved to see what veiled threats would do. Instead, therefore, 
of waiting for events to follow their usual course and leaving 
the matter to be discussed on May 4, four days after Alderman 
Newnham's notice (on April 24), Pitt suddenly sprang the 
subject on a crowded House. 

Mr. Pitt said: "That perceiving the House was so full, he 
would take the opportunity of alluding to a subject of the highest 
importance in itself and of the greatest novelty, which of all 
others required the greatest dehcacy which could possibly be 
used in its discussion. He wished to know the scope and ten- 
dency of the motion coming on next week, and whether the 
honourable magistrate intended to persevere with it." 

But Alderman Newnham was not to be drawn. After a 
hurried consultation with his friends he answered : — 

"That he did not mean, as the right honourable gentleman 
had phrased it, to force forward the subject of the Prince of 
Wales's stiuation. It in fact forced itselj forward, but he should 
have been extremely well pleased to have had the matter taken 
out of his hands by his Majesty's Ministers. As to the particu- 
lar parliamentary form which it would wear, it really had not 
been decided upon by himself, but the object of it he had no 
objection to state, as it was to rescue his Royal Highness from 
his present embarrassed situation." 

In this he was supported by Fox, who thought he saw a 
sign of weakness in Pitt's thus bringing forward the subject. 

Mr. Fox said: "That he entirely agreed with the right 
honourable gentleman that it was a subject of pecuHar novelty, 
but so were the circumstances that gave rise to it, and it was 
also of equal delicacy, but as that dehcacy would arise from 
the necessity of going into an investigation of the causes from 
which these circumstances originated, for that must prove a 
painful work to the House, ... he hoped that the business 
might be forestalled, and something done in the interim to 
render it unnecessary for the honourable magistrate to prose- 
cute his intention.'' 

Mr. Pitt answered: "He admitted that the principal dehcacy 
of the question would lie in the necessity for inquiring into the 



124 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

causes of the circumstances which were proposed to be brought 
into discussion, and for that reason he would, from his profound 
respect for every part of the illustrious family who were con- 
cerned in it, wish if possible to avoid discussion. If the hon- 
ourable magistrate should determine to bring it forward he 
would, however distressing it might be to him, as an individual, 
discharge his duty to the public, and enter lully into the subject." 

Pitt spoke with meaning, and there was a veiled threat in 
his words which caused a considerable sensation in the House. 
Every one understood what Pitt meant when he spoke of the 
"necessity of inquiring into the causes." But the Prince's 
friends deemed it best to ignore the menace at the time, and the 
subject dropped. 

Three days later, on April 27, Alderman Newnham again 
brought forward the subject. After reminding the House of 
what had passed, and regretting that the Ministers had done 
nothing in the meanwhile to meet the Prince's wishes, he 
moved : — 

"That an humble address be presented to his Majesty, 
praying him to take into his Royal consideration the present 
embarrassed state of affairs of his Royal Highness the Prince 
of Wales, and to grant him such relief as his royal wisdom 
should think fit, and that the House would make good the 
same." 

Before Pitt could rise to reply to this challenge an interrup- 
tion came from an unexpected quarter, where from below the 
gangway on the Ministerial side of the House sat, in solid 
phalanx, the Tory squires. Their mouthpiece was RoUe,^ one 
of the members of Parliament for the county of Devon. Rolle 
was a typical country squire, uncouth in person, rough in 
manners, halting in speech, impervious either to bribery or 
flattery, and noted for his sturdy independence. He was the 
hero of that satirical effusion the "RolHad," and an avowed 
enemy of Fox. No sooner had Alderman Newnham sat down 
than Mr. Rolle rose, and, speaking with dogged emphasis and 
a broad Devonshire accent, said: — 

1 John Rolle (1750-1842), M.P. for Devonshire, had entered Parliament in 
1780 as a supporter of Pitt. In 1796 he was created Lord Rolle. He was the 
aged peer who stumbled on the steps of Queen Victoria's throne when he offered 
homage at her Coronation. He was twice married; his second wife survived 
him for many years, and died so lately as 1885. 



DENIAL OF THE MARRIAGE 125 

"If ever there was a question which called particularly upon 
the attention of that class of persons, the country gentlemen, it 
would be the question which the honourable Alderman had 
declared his determination to agitate, because it was a question 
which went immediately to affect our Constitution in Church and 
State. Whenever it should be brought forward he would rise 
the moment the honourable Alderman sat down and move the 
previous question, being convinced that it ought not to be 
discussed." 

Rolle's words made a profound impression on the House, 
especially on the Ministerial benches. Rolle represented the 
most influential section of the Tory party, the country squires, 
those staunch upholders of the Established Church, who were 
noted for their strong dislike of Nonconformists, both Roman 
Catholics and Protestant Dissenters. 

Fox was unaccountably absent from this discussion. He 
said afterwards that he did not know the matter was to be 
brought forward on that day, but surely he must have known 
it, as he was in close touch with Alderman Newnham. But 
Sheridan was present, and he represented in an especial manner 
the Prince of Wales. He threw himself into the breach, and 
strove in vain to remove the impression made by Rolle's words, 
by affecting not to understand their meaning. 

Mr, Sheridan said: "He differed much from those who 
represented that alarming consequences might ensue from the 
present motion, and that the existence of Church and State 
was endangered by its agitation: he did not well know what 
precise meaning to afhx to expressions of this kind, but he was 
well convinced that the motion originated only in a consciousness 
of the unparelleled difficulties under which the heir to the 
Crown was so long suffered to labour. . . . Whatever was 
brought forward he knew would meet with an unequivocal and 
complete reply, such as he was assured his Royal Highness 
would himself give, as a peer of Great Britain, were a question 
of this nature to be agitated in another House. How far such 
a discussion might be proper he left to the feeling of the gentle- 
man to whom he alluded to decide." 

But the sturdy Rolle would have no ambiguity. Mr. Rolle 
rose again to declare that: "If a motion were urged, which he 
thought highly improper to be proposed, the honourable gen- 



126 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

tleman would find he would not flinch from it, but act as became 
an independent country gentleman to act upon such an occasion, 
and state without reserve his sentiments, according as the 
matter struck him. He would do his duty." 

Pitt now thought fit to intervene. From his seat on the Min- 
isterial bench he had seen the impression which Rolle's words 
had produced, and the confusion they had wrought among the 
Prince's friends, and he availed himself of the opportunity. He 
hoped to frighten the Alderman into withdrawing his motion. 
Therefore, speaking with great deliberation, and emphasizing 
his meaning with significant gestures — 

Mr. Pitt said: "He was very much concerned that, by the 
perseverance of the hon. member (Newnham), he should be 
driven, though with infinite reluctance, to the disclosure of 
circumstances which he should otherwise think it his duty to 
conceal^ (Sensation.) "Whenever the motion should be agi- 
tated he was ready to avow his determined and fixed resolution 
to give it his absolute negative." 

There could be no doubt about Pitt's meaning, and when 
he sat down several members of Parliament rose one after 
another, deprecated the motion, and urged Alderman Newn- 
ham to withdraw it. But the Alderman made no sign, and 
presently Sheridan rose again. So far from yielding, he was 
quick to seize the advantage of Pitt's indiscreet speech. A 
license, which might be allowed in a private member of Parlia- 
ment like Rolle, could hardly be permitted in a Minister of the 
Crown. Speaking with great warmth — 

Mr. Sheridan ssiid: "He was unable to comprehend why 
the notice of this motion should have produced any alarm 
amongst the country members, who must be aware that the 
Prince should not be suffered to continue in such embarrassed 
circumstances. . , . Some honourable gentlemen had thought 
proper to express their anxious wishes that the business should 
be deferred, but the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Pitt) had 
erected an insuperable barrier to such a step. It would then 
seem to the country, to all Europe, that the Prince had yielded 
to terror what he had denied to argument. What could the 
world think of such conduct, but that he fled from inquiry 
and dared not face his accusers? But if such was the design 
of these threats, he believed they would find that the author 



DENIAL OF THE MARRIAGE 127 

of them had as much mistaken the feehngs as the conduct of 
the Prince." 

Sheridan's speech was nothing but a piece of bluff. He 
knew that Pitt either would not, or could not, prove his words, 
and he wished to force him to withdraw them. Pitt had only- 
uttered his threat in the hope of forcing a withdrawal of the 
motion. When he saw that the Prince's friends were deter- 
mined to brave the matter out, he was for the moment non- 
plussed, and knew not what to reply. The Speaker came to 
his aid by calling up a member of Parliament to present a 
petition which he had in his hand, and the House proceeded 
with the business of the day. 

But the matter could hardly be allowed to rest thus. The 
excitement in the lobbies was great. Members gathered in 
little groups discussing Pitt's words, and wondering what'answer 
he would make to Sheridan's defiance. Meanwhile, Pitt had a 
hasty consultation with his colleagues. It was recognised that 
his threat had failed to produce the desired effect, and that he 
had unwittingly given advantage to his opponents. Later in the 
evening, therefore, the Prime Minister reopened the question, 
this time with a speech that was painfully like an equivocation. 

Mr. Pitt said: "He wished to remove the possibihty of mis- 
interpretation, especially as the hon. gentleman (Mr. Sheridan) 
had stated that the insinuations which had been thrown out 
made it impossible for the friends of the Prince of Wales to 
withdraw their motion. The particulars to which he alluded, 
and which he should think it necessary to state more fully to 
the House, related only to the pecuniary embarrassments of the 
Prince of Wales, and to a correspondence that had taken place 
on the subject, and this had no reference to any extraneous 
circumstances.''^ 

But Sheridan had no intention of letting him off so easily. 
He rubbed in Pitt's disavowal. 

Mr. Sheridan said: "He was extremely glad the right hon. 
gentleman had explained himself, because, undoubtedly, as he 
left the matter, the interpretation of the right hon. gentleman's 
declaration had been the very construction which he had now 
so fully cleared himself from having had any intention to convey. 
As to that matter, any sort of allusion to it would have been in 
the extremest degree indelicate and disrespectful." 



128 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Sheridan went that same night to Carlton House and told 
the Prince what had passed. The Prince was greatly perturbed, 
and his perturbation only shghtly lessened when the next 
morning Pitt sent for Lord Southampton, repeated to him his 
recantation in the House the previous day, and asked him, in 
effect, to explain to the Prince that he had not meant what he 
said. The Prince adroitly seized the advantage, and returned 
to Pitt a haughty answer, "that he never received verbal mes- 
sages except from the King." But though Pitt might be 
muzzled, there remained Rolle to be reckoned with, and he was 
determined to bring the matter of the Prince's reputed marriage 
to a Roman Catholic before the notice of the House at the first 
opportunity. Behind Rolle were the country gentlemen, and 
behind them again was the Protestant feeling of the country. 
The Prince could not hope to stand up against the storm. 
Deserted as he was by many of his political friends, with the 
King against him, and the Government avowedly hostile, he 
thought that to avow his marriage at this juncture to a Roman 
Cathohc would be to imperil his succession to the Crown. The 
Prince was not prepared to make such a sacrifice. Yet after 
the pointed allusions made to the secret marriage in the House, 
it was not possible to fight the question any longer with gloves. 
It would have to be met with either avowal or disavowal. The 
Prince, as usual, sought refuge in sophistry. The marriage was 
not legal. Therefore it was no marriage; for him it did not 
exist, since it left him free. Mrs. Fitzherbert, he knew, would 
never betray him, whatever happened; the clergyman and the 
witnesses could be trusted to keep their own counsel, for over 
them hung the mysterious threat of premunire and its penalties. 
The marriage could be safely denied; therefore, he argued, he 
was free to deny it. 

Yet when the Prince thought of his wife, whom he loved 
more than any other being in the world, some remorse seems to 
have crossed his mind. Sheridan, who enjoyed the friendship 
of them both, was sent to sound Mrs. Fitzherbert on the sub- 
ject, and to prepare her for the worst. She did not know of the 
letter the Prince had written to Fox before the marriage, nor 
probably did Sheridan. Neither had Sheridan the courage to 
tell her definitely that the marriage would be denied, but he 
said that it was probable that some explanation would be re- 



DENIAL OF THE MARRIAGE 129 

quired by Parliament of her connection with the Prince; and 
he impressed upon her the extreme difficuhy of the Prince's 
position in the matter, and the necessity of secrecy. It was 
easy to work upon her fears, for the perils of the Prince's situa- 
tion, and the dread of Protestant prejudice, were ever present 
with her. The unhappy lady seems to have realised her danger, 
for she told Sheridan that "they knew she was hke a dog with 
a log tied round its neck, and they must protect her." ^ Sheri- 
dan, of course, was ready to promise anything and everything 
to calm her, but he left her with a presentiment of evil to come. 
Her fears were not unfounded. This time the Prince had fully 
made up his mind that the marriage must be treated as non- 
existent, and if the question were raised in Parliament, his 
friends must be prepared to meet it with denial. 

Fox, for one, was determined that the denial should not 
lack completeness. More than any one else, his popularity had 
suffered. Without a shadow of truth he had been accused of 
conniving at the Prince's secret marriage with a Roman Catholic. 
Everything which unscrupulous opponents could do to convey 
this impression to the people had been done; paragraphs in the 
press had accused him of being privy to the marriage, and 
caricatures and cartoons innumerable had depicted him as 
assisting at a ceremony of which he knew nothing, and against 
which he had protested in vain. These accusations had been 
going on for nearly a year, and he determined to answer them 
once for all. He had the Prince's letter, and that was enough 
for his purpose. Whether the marriage had taken place or not 
was beside the point. It had been denied to him by the Prince 
in writing, and he did not seek to go behind that denial. More- 
over, he did not feel in any way called upon to shield Mrs. 
Fitzherbert from the consequences of her folly. Fox was always 
loyal to his friends, perhaps too loyal; but Mrs. Fitzherbert was 
not his friend. They had nothing in common — he did not 
understand her or sympathise with her, and she, though she 
was discretion itself, had an instinctive dislike for him. His 
blasphemies shocked her, his loose morals revolted her, and his 
excessive drinking and gambling disgusted her. She feared 
that in these matters he had a bad influence over the Prince. 

1 Langdale, op. cit. 



130 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Perhaps, too, Fox was a little jealous of her. Since the Prince's 
connection with Mrs. Fitzherbert, the frank comradeship be- 
tween him and his "dear Charles" had gone, and though the 
Prince declared himself as devoted as ever to his friend, the old 
intimacy had ceased. Fox would have been less than human 
if he had not attributed some of this falling off to Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert. In a crisis like the present, therefore, he conceived 
that his duty was only to the Prince; he owed no consideration 
to Mrs. Fitzherbert. With these thoughts in his mind he 
resolved to act. To say this is not to place Fox altogether in 
the wrong, for he had authority for what he stated. But it 
shows that in what followed the Prince was not wholly to blame. 

It was announced that Alderman Newnham was to bring 
forward his motion on April 3c. On that day the House of 
Commons was crowded, and everywhere within its precincts 
there reigned an air of subdued excitement. Fox was in his 
place, fortified doubtless for the coming fray by an extra bottle 
of port, and the Prince's friends, such as Sheridan, Grey, and 
others, were gathered around him. When the Alderman rose 
to propose his motion, his opening words showed that the 
Prince's friends meant to present a bold front. 

Alderman Newnham said: "On Friday last, much personal 
application had been made to him from various quarters of the 
House to press him to forego his purpose, and much had been 
said of the dangerous consequences which might result from 
the discussion of such a subject. One gentleman had gone so 
far as to contend that it would draw on questions affecting 
Church and State. That expression, coupled with certain hints 
which fell from the Chancellor of the Exchequer {Mr. Pitt), had 
induced him, as well as other members, to suspect that in order 
to deter him from persisting in bringing forward this motion, 
matters of singular delicacy were to be agitated without reserve. 
The Chancellor of the Exchequer had indeed explained his 
meaning in a way satisfactory to the House, and in his opinion, 
the gentleman who had made use of the expressions relative to 
Church and State was bound as a man of honour to come to 
an open explanation of what he meant by the allusion." 

Mr. Fox rose immediately after Mr. Newnham had con- 
cluded his remarks. He began with an apology for his absence 
on the previous occasion: "Not having heard that a subject of 




CHARLES JAMES FOX 



DENIAL OF THE MARRIAGE 131 

so much delicacy and importance was likely to be at all alluded 
to on Friday last, he had not come down to the House on that 
day. On a former occasion he had heard the Chancellor of 
the Exchequer throw out certain hints which appeared to his 
mind extremely like a menace, and that of a very extraordinary 
nature, but those hints had, he understood, on Friday last been 
much narrowed by explanation, and confined to certain corre- 
spondence and letters which had passed on the subject without 
doors. . . . He desired it to be understood, not as speaking 
lightly but as speaking from the immediate authority of the 
Prince of Wales, when he assured the House that there was no 
part of his Royal Highness's conduct that he was either afraid 
or unwilling to have investigated in the most minute manner. 
With regard to the private correspondence alluded to, he wished 
to have it laid before the House, because it would prove that the 
conduct of his Royal Highness had been in the highest degree 
amiable, and would present an uniform and a perfect picture 
of duty and obedience, so much so as ever, in any instance, had 
been shown from a son to his father, or from a subject to his 
Sovereign. With regard to the debt, which was the cause of 
his embarrassments, his Royal Highness, if the House would 
deem it necessary, was willing to give an account in writing of 
every part of it — not of every single sum, or even of every 
thousand pounds, for such an account the good sense of the 
House would see to be improper, if not impossible — but a 
general and fair account. He had not the smallest objection to 
afford the House every possible satisfaction, and there was not 
a circumstance of his Royal Highness's life which he was 
ashamed to have known." 

So far Fox had only spoken in generalities. Now, for a 
moment, he paused, and then raising his voice, but speaking 
slowly and with a dehberation which compelled the attention 
of the House, he continued : — 

"With respect to the allusion to something full of 'danger 
to the Church and State' made by the hon. gentleman, one of 
the members for the county of Devon, till that gentleman thought 
proper to explain himself, it was impossible to say with any 
certainty to what that allusion referred; but he supposed it 
must be meant in reference to that miserable calumny, that low 
malicious falsehood, which had been propagated, without doors, 



132 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

and made the wanton sport of the vulgar. In that House, 
where it was known how frequent and common the falsehoods 
of the time were, he hoped a tale only fit to impose upon the 
lowest order of persons in the streets would not have gained the 
smallest portion of credit; but when it appeared that an inven- 
tion so monstrous, a report of a fact which had not the smallest 
degree of foundation, a report of a fact actually impossible to 
have happened, had been circulated with so much industry as 
to have made an impression on the minds of members of that 
House, it proved at once the uncommon pains taken by the 
enemies of his Royal Highness to propagate the grossest and 
most malignant falsehoods with a view to depreciate his char- 
acter and injure him in the opinion of his country. When he 
{Mr. Fox) considered that his Royal Highness was the first 
subject in the kingdom and the immediate heir to the throne, 
he was at a loss to imagine what species of party it was which 
could have fabricated so base and scandalous a calumny. Had 
there existed in the kingdom such a faction as an anti- Brunswick 
faction, to that faction he should have certainly imputed the 
invention of so malicious a falsehood, for he knew not what 
other description of men could feel an interest in first forming, 
and then circulating with more than ordinary assiduity, a tale 
in every particular so unfounded, and for which there was not 
the shadow of anything like reality. 

"This being the fact, and as the occasion had made it 
necessary for him to declare as much, he hoped it would have 
this good effect upon the House and upon the country, that it 
would teach both the one and the other to distrust the reports 
circulated to the prejudice of the Prince, and lessen any opinion 
that they might in consequence take up injurious to the character 
of his Royal Highness, who might be said to be a person in 
whose fair fame that House and the country were deeply 
interested. The whole of the debt the Prince was ready to 
submit to the investigation of the House; and he was equally 
ready to submit the other circumstance to which he had alluded 
to their consideration, provided the consideration of a House 
of ParHament could, with consistency, with propriety and 
decency, be applied to such a subject. Nay, his Royal High- 
ness had authorised him to declare that, as a peer of Parliament, 
he was ready in the other House to submit to any, the most 



DENIAL OF THE MARRIAGE 133 

pointed questions, which could be put to him respecting it, or 
to afford his Majesty or his Majesty's Ministers the fullest 
assurances of the utter falsehood 0} the fact in question, which 
never had, and common sense must see, never could have 
happened." 

Half the House had listened to Fox's remarks with incre- 
dulity, the other with a sense of relief. When he sat down a 
buzz of eager comment broke forth, which was hushed as Pitt 
rose. The great Minister was more than usually cold, frigid, 
and contemptuous; his calmness contrasting markedly with the 
impassioned demeanour of Fox. 

Mr. Pitt said: "He should not at present enter into a debate 
upon the question." He rebuked Mr. Fox for his "hints and 
insinuations against a person unnamed (the King). As the 
right hon. gentleman did not choose to point his own charge 
against any individual, he should not point it for him." Of 
Rolle he said that he, " with the zeal that became a good subject, 
interposed, in common with many other respectable members, 
with his entreaties to the hon. magistrate, not to force the 
House to the discussion of a subject which was of all others to 
be most avoided, and which he looked upon himself as bound 
in duty to the public, to the Prince, and to the Sovereign, to 
prevent if possible." 

It will be seen that Pitt made no allusion to Fox's denial of 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's marriage to the Prince, and his silence on 
this point was significant. The House would willingly have let 
the matter drop, but Rolle was determined to probe the subject 
to the bottom. He was not in the least convinced by Fox's 
words, and he suspected sophistry and equivocation. 

Mr. Rolle said: "After the pointed manner in which he had 
been alluded to it was necessary to say a few words. . . . The 
right hon. gentleman had touched upon the very matter to 
which he had alluded, when he, on Friday last, called on the 
country gentlemen to attend to a question which would affect ■ 
both Church and State. That matter had been stated and 
discussed in newspapers all over the kingdom, and it had made 
an impression upon him, and upon almost all ranks of men in 
the country who loved and venerated the Constitution. The 
right hon. gentleman had said it was impossible to have hap- 
pened. They all knew that there were certain laws and Acts 



134 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

of Parliament which forbade it ; but though it could not be done 
under the formal sanction of the law, there were ways in which 
it might have taken place, and those laws in the minds of some 
persons might have been satisfactorily evaded, and yet the fact 
might be equally productive of the most alarming consequences. 
It ought therefore to be cleared up." 

Rolle had not calculated the full extent of Fox's audacity. 

Mr. Fox immediately rose and replied: "That he did not 
deny the calumny in question merely with regard to the effect 
of certain existing laws, but he denied it in toto, in point of 
fact as well as law. The fact not only never could have hap- 
pened legally, but never did happen in any way whatsoever, 
and had from the beginning been a base and malicious false- 
hood." 

Mr. Rolle then asked: "whether in what had fallen from 
the right hon. gentleman he had spoken from direct authority." 

Mr. Fox declared that "he had spoken from direct author- 
ity." 

Against a denial so sweeping there could be no appeal. At 
least, so it seemed to another independent member. Sir Edward 
Asiley, who said: "It gave him great pleasure to hear from such 
high authority direct contradiction of a report which had been 
so freely circulated in newspapers, and made the subject of an 
infinite number of prints, that it had effected a very great and 
general impression on the public." 

But Rolle sat silent and unbelieving. The matter might 
have dropped there had not Sheridan, who perhaps feared that 
Rolle would raise the subject again, tried to wring from him an 
admission that he was satisfied. 

Mr. Sheridan said that: " It would be extremely unhandsome 
in the hon. gentleman (Mr. Rolle), who had called upon his 
right hon. friend (Mr. Fox), to say whether he spoke from 
direct authority or not, to sit silent after having received so 
explicit an answer." 

Rolle's answer showed how little he believed Fox. 

Mr. Rolle replied: "That nothing the hon. gentleman (Sheri- 
dan) could say would induce him to act otherwise than to his 
judgment should appear to be proper. The right hon. gentle- 
man had certainly answered him, and the House would judge 
for themselves of the propriety of the answer." 



DENIAL OF THE MARRIAGE 135 

Mr. Sheridan observed that: "The hon. gentleman, after 
having put a pointed question and received an immediate 
answer, was bound in honour and fairness either to declare that 
he was satisfied, or to take some means of putting the matter 
into such a state of inquiry as would satisfy him. To remain 
silent, or to declare that the House would judge for themselves 
after what had passed, was neither manly nor candid. If, 
therefore, the hon. gentleman did not choose to say that he was 
satisfied, the House ought to come to a resolution that it was 
seditious and disloyal to propagate reports injurious to the 
character of the Prince of Wales, and thus by authority dis- 
countenance the reports." 

Mr. Rolle maintained his attitude. He said that "he had 
not invented these reports, but merely said that he had heard 
them, and that they had made an impression on his mind." 

Mr. Pitt then felt forced to intervene on behalf of his sup- 
porter. He observed that "he had never heard so direct an 
attack upon the freedom of debate and liberty of speech in that 
House ever since he had sat in Parliament. . . .The hon. 
gentleman (Mr. Sheridan), who took so warm a part in the 
business on the other side of the House, should rather be obhged 
to the hon. member (Mr. Rolle) who was the first to suggest a 
question which had been the means of bringing forward so 
explicit a declaration on so interesting a subject, and one which 
must give complete satisfaction not only to the hon. gentleman 
himself but to the whole House." 

Still Sheridan persevered. Perhaps he wanted to know 
exactly how much Rolle knew on the subject. 

Mr. Sheridan "denied that he wished to infringe on the 
liberty of debate, and he would appeal to the House whether 
under such circumstances it was honourable and manly, fair or 
candid, for the hon. gentleman (Mr. Rolle) to remain silent, 
and whether he ought not either to declare that he was satisfied, 
or to resort to means of ascertaining the facts ; for it was adding 
in a tenfold degree to the malicious falsehood which had been 
propagated against his Royal Highness, to say that the Prince 
had authorised a false denial of the fact. The right hon. 
gentleman (Mr. Pitt) had himself been obliged to assume that 
' the hon. member must be satisfied since he had never acknowl- 
edged that he was so.'" All, however, Sheridan could wring 



136 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

from RoUe was a curt answer that "the hon. gentleman had not 
heard him say that he was not satisfied." 

Mr. Grey then broke in to the debate. He supported Mr. 
Sheridan, and denounced the conduct of Rolle to be "both 
unmanly and ungenerous. If that hon. gentleman had not 
received complete satisfaction, the House, he believed, had." 
Grey next attacked Pitt for his conduct of this business, and 
for "the veiled hints and menaces he had thrown out last week." 

Mr. Pitt in the most positive manner again "disclaimed any 
idea or intention of threat or menace — he deprecated discussion 
of questions of so dehcate a nature, and asked every gentleman, 
to whom the harmony and happiness of the kingdom was dear, 
to join with him in so deprecating." 

At this point the subject dropped, and the House adjourned.^ 

Thus was Mrs. Fitzherbert forsworn, and the wrong done 
to her then was never set right in her lifetime. 

^ "Parliamentary History." Hansard, London, 1816, vol. xxvi. 



CHAPTER XI 

SHERir)AN'S APOLOGY 

(1787) 

Who was responsible for Fox's denial in the House of 
Commons of the marriage between the Prince of Wales and 
Mrs. Fitzherbert ? The question even now is one of consider- 
able difficulty. Fox's apologists declare that he must have 
believed what he said to be true, as he was incapable of uttering 
a falsehood. The detractors of the Prince of Wales aver that 
he was wholly to blame; in their opinion the Prince's perfidy 
was double-dyed, for he not only hed to his friend, but betrayed 
the wife of his bosom. The truth will probably be found to he 
between these two extremes. Both Fox and the Prince were in 
a sense responsible. There is httle doubt that when Fox 
declared that he spoke "with direct authority" he alluded to 
the letter which the Prince wrote to him four days before his 
marriage. The Prince in his answer to Fox said: "Beheve me, 
the world will soon be convinced that there not only is [not] but 
never was, any ground for these reports which of late have 
been so malevolently circulated." ^ Fox, in his speech, spoke 
of "mahcious falsehoods" and "malignant calumnies," thus 
using much the same words as the Prince had used in his letter. 

It has been suggested that Fox was ignorant of the ceremony 
of December 15, 1785; but that he had, through the Duchess of 
Devonshire, heard of the scene at Carlton House in the autumn 
of 1784, when the Prince put a ring on Mrs. Fitzherbert's finger 
and made her promise to become his wife, and he had that in 
his mind when he denied the marriage "in toto, in point of fact 
as well as law." But even the Carlton House scene constituted 
"a sort of ceremony," and Fox had most positively declared the 
marriage "never did happen in any way whatsoever." Perhaps 
he thought that while he was about this business he had better 
do it thoroughly, and leave no possible pretext for the question 

' Letter from the Prince of Wales to Mr. Fox, December 11, 1785. 

137 



138 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

to be raised again. For the moment he succeeded, for no one 
thought that the charge would be met with so sweeping a 
denial. 

Fox's triumph was short-lived. When he left the House of 
Commons that same evening he strolled up to Brooks's Club, 
and there he met, it is said, Orlando Bridgeman (afterwards 
Lord Bradford), who accosted him with these words: "Mr. 
Fox, I hear that you have denied in the House the Prince's 
marriage to Mrs. Fitzherbert. You have been misinformed; 
I was at the marriage." ^ How Fox met this it is impossible to 
say. Some have represented him as giving way to a violent 
outburst of indignation at the duplicity practised upon him, 
and have declared that he broke off his friendship with the 
Prince in consequence, and did not speak to him for a year. 
Unfortunately the facts do not bear out this theory. Fox still 
continued to correspond with the Prince. As late as May 10 
(ten days after the scene in the House of Commons) we find 
affectionate letters passing between them on the subject of the 
Prince's debts. If Fox had been so virtuously indignant as his 
admirers represent him to have been, he would certainly have 
thrown up the whole affair, and let the Prince get his debts 
paid as best he could. But Fox knew too well the unstable 
character of his royal friend to have been greatly surprised at 
this revelation of his shiftiness. He may have felt indignant at 
the trick played on him, but his indignation was probably 
seasoned with a cynical amusement. The Prince's letter de- 
nying his marriage, though it was written before the marriage 
took place, had served Fox's purpose; it had enabled him to 
publicly deny the fact from ''direct authority"; it had served to 
clear him and the Whig leaders from the suspicion of having 
been privy to it, and it had greatly relieved the minds of his 
followers in the House of Commons, whose allegiance had been 
sorely strained. Sir Gilbert Elliot, for instance, writes that he 
had been much distressed by "the constitutional dangers and 
doubts belonging to this most equivocal condition of things"; 
he thought the Prince had committed a "heavy offence," all 
too serious to be excused "by levity or the passions of youth." 
He rejoiced, therefore, to hear the charge denied so definitely. 

1 If he were present it was outside the door. 



SHERIDAN'S APOLOGY 



139 



"Fox," he says "declared by authority from the Prince, in the 
fullest and most unequivocal manner, that there was not the 
smallest foundation of any sort for the story of the marriage 
with Mrs. Fitzherbert . . . and in a word denied, positively 
from the Prince himself, the whole of this slander in words so 
strong and so unqualified that we must beheve him. ... I 
think yesterday was a very good day for the Prince, as the story 
of Mrs. Fitzherbert was what staggered great numbers. . . ." 
He adds: "This conversation leaves Mrs. Fitzherbert in an 
awkward way; but for my own part I feel much better satisfied 
with her conduct now than I did before"^ — surely a dark 
saying. Fox was too astute a pohtician not to be aware of the 
advantage he had gained for himself and his party by his un- 
compromising denial. Nothing could be further from his 
thoughts than to sacrifice the effect of his words by any con- 
sideration for Mrs. Fitzherbert. The burden of the falsehood 
did not rest on his shoulders, but on those of the Prince. 

The Prince found the burden heavy enough. During the 
progress of the debate in the House of Commons on the eventful 
evening of April 30, the Prince was kept informed of all that 
passed. Messengers were continually going to and fro between 
Carlton House and Westminster. Immediately the debate was 
over, Sheridan and Grey went to see him. They must have 
told him of Fox's denial of the marriage, though they probably 
did not tell him of the strong words which Fox had used. The 
Prince seems to have acquiesced without protest; he was glad 
that the danger was over. We find him writing to Fox at twelve 
o'clock the same evening, making an appointment to see him 
next morning. 

"April 30, 1787, 
Monday night, 12 o'clock. 

"My dear Charles, — I beg to see you for five minutes 
to-morrow after I have seen Marsham and Powys, whom I beg 
you will desire to be at Carlton House at one o'clock to-morrow. 
When I see you I will relate to you what has passed between 
my Friend and me relative to y^ seeing you. I feel more 
comfortable by Sheridan and Grey's account of what has 
passed to-day. I have had a distant insinuation that some sort 

' "Life and Letters of Sir Gilbert Elliot," op. cit. 



140 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

of message, or terms, are to be proposed to me to-morrow. If 
you come a little after two you will be sure to find me. — 
Ever affectionately yours, "George P " 

From this letter it would seem that the Prince took, or 
affected to take, the matter hghtly. The thought uppermost 
was not the betrayal of Mrs. Fitzherbert, but the payment of 
his debts. All the same, the Prince was not easy in his mind 
as to how Mrs. Fitzherbert would take the news, and he cer- 
tainly did a wise thing in telling her of it himself at the earliest 
opportunity. Mrs. Fitzherbert had then no town-house, and 
was staying "with her friend and relative the Hon. Mrs. Butler." 
"The Prince," we are told, "called the morning after the denial 
of the marriage in the House of Commons by Mr. Fox. He 
went up to Mrs. Fitzherbert, and taking hold of both her hands 
and caressing her, said, 'Only conceive, Maria, what Fox did 
yesterday. He went down to the House and denied that you 
and I were man and wife ! Did you ever hear of such a thing ? " 
Mrs. Fitzherbert made no reply, but changed countenance and 
turned pale." ^ She knew instinctively that her fate was sealed, 
and what this pubHc repudiation meant to her. Her silence 
doubtless moved the Prince more than any words. Tears were 
always ready to spring to his eyes and vows and protestations 
to his lips. He proceeded to disavow Fox to her and all his 
works. 

The denial of the marriage was serious enough in itself, 
but when, later in the day, Mrs. Fitzherbert became aware of 
the terms in which Fox had made that denial, and how he had 
left her no loophole to escape from a shameful situation, com- 
promising ahke her religion and her honour, her indignation 
and reproaches knew no bounds. She saw herself not only 
cruelly betrayed, but pubhcly degraded. "This pubHc degra- 
dation of Mrs. Fitzherbert," says Lord Stourton, "so com- 
promised her character and religion, and irritated her feelings, 
that she determined to break off all connection with the Prince, 
and she was only induced to receive him again into her confi- 
dence, by repeated assurances that Mr. Fox had never been 
authorised to make the declaration; and the friends of Mrs. 

1 Langdale, op. cit. 



SHERIDAN'S APOLOGY 141 

Fitzherbert assured her, that, in this discrepancy as to the 
assertion of Mr. Fox and the Prince, she was bound to accept 
the word of her husband." ^ 

Mrs. Fitzherbert's dislike of Fox now deepened into abhor- 
rence, and she vowed that she never could, or would, forgive 
him. "She said," writes Sir Phihp Francis, who later tried to 
make peace between them, "that, by his unauthorised declara- 
tion in the House of Commons, he had rolled her in the kennel 
Hke a street- walker; that he knew that every word he said was 
a He; and so on, in a torrent of virulence which it was vain for 
me to encounter, so I gave up the point and made my retreat 
as well and as fast as I could." ^ 

Nor did she forgive the Prince easily, though he swore to 
her that Fox had acted entirely without his authority. This 
of course was untrue, but it was true that he had no idea that 
Fox would use language so unnecessarily strong. When the 
Prince heard it he was greatly annoyed, and was eager to make 
all possible amends. He sent for Grey, who found the Prince 
tremendously agitated, and pacing in a hurried manner up and 
down the room. He at once explained his object in sending 
for Grey. It was to induce him to frame some sort of explana- 
tion for Fox's denial of his marriage the previous evening — to 
modify in some way the terms of that denial, so that Mrs. 
Fitzherbert might be pacified. "Charles certainly went too far 
last night," he said. "You, my dear Grey, shall explain it," 
and then in distinct tones,^ though with prodigious agitation, 
owned that a ceremony had taken place. Grey observed that 
Fox must unquestionably suppose that he had authority for all 
he said; and that if there had been any mistake it could only 
be rectified by his Royal Highness speaking to Fox himself, and 
setting him right on such matters as had been misunderstood 

1 "I told her," adds Lord Stourton, "that I understood there was a scrap 
of paper from the Prince to Mr. Fox; that Sir John Throckmorton, a friend of 
his, had assured me of the fact of the Prince's wishing much to obtain possession 
of it; but though written on a dirty scrap of paper, it was much too valuable to 
be parted with. She said that she rather doubted the fact" (Langdale's "Me- 
moir," in which is incorporated Lord Stourton's "Narrative"). This scrap of 
paper was probably the letter which the Prince had written to Fox previous 
to his marriage, and which was found among Fox's papers after his death. 

2 "Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis." 

3 "As Grey," adds Lord Holland, "has since the Prince's (George IV.'s) 
death assured me." 



142 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

between them.^ "No other person can," he added, "be em- 
ployed without questioning Mr. Fox's veracity, which nobody, 
I presume, is prepared to do." But to discuss the matter with 
Fox was the last thing the Prince desired. Grey probably 
knew this, and like all the Prince's friends he was delighted at 
the public denial of the marriage, whether it were true or untrue. 
He says, "I expressly told him (the Prince) how prejudicial the 
continuance of the discussion must be to him, and positively 
refused to do what he wished." This refusal "chagrined, dis- 
appointed, and agitated the Prince exceedingly." He termi- 
nated the interview abruptly and threw himself on a sofa, 
muttering, "Well, if nobody else will, Sheridan must." The 
Prince never forgave Grey for his refusal and the implied re- 
buke, and nearly half a century later, when Grey was the 
powerful Minister and the Prince was King, there still existed 
a coolness between them. 

The Prince sent for the phant Sheridan, who readily prom- 
ised to smooth away the effect of Fox's words as soon as occasion 
arose, and with that promise the Prince had to be content. To 
Fox he said nothing. Annoyed though he was with him for 
his excess of zeal, he was much too useful to quarrel with at 
such a crisis. He must wait, at any rate, until Fox had secured 
the payment of his debts by Parhament. 

This matter proceeded apace. Both the King and Pitt felt 
that the bold stand taken by the Prince and his friends had cut 
the ground from beneath their feet. The Prince's necessities 
had extorted from him a complete denial of the marriage, and 
the King's own measure, the Royal Marriage Act, had not been 
openly set at defiance. The price had been paid. What mat- 
tered it that its payment involved the sacrifice of a woman's 
honour? The King was now all complacence. Pitt sent a 
gracious message to the Prince full of explanations and apolo- 
gies, to which the Prince haughtily replied in much the same 
terms as before, "He did not receive verbal messages, but if the 
Minister had any business with him he might come himself." 
This might have led to further unpleasantness had not the 
Duchess of Gordon diplomatically arranged matters. Pitt 
came to see the Prince and assured him of his goodwill. Com- 

1 "Memoirs of the Whig Party," by Lord Holland. 




RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN 

[After the Painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds) 



SHERIDAN'S APOLOGY 143 

pliments passed on both sides, and then Pitt went to the King. 
A Cabinet Council was held, and a message w^ sent to the 
Prince, that his wishes would be comphed with. 

On the strength of this assurance, on May 4, Alderman 
Newnham withdrew his motion in the House of Commons. 
We read : ^ — 

"As soon as Mr. Pitt came into the House a profound 
silence took place, although there were upwards of four hundred 
members assembled. Mr. Alderman Newnham rose and 
said : — 

" ' Sir, I am extremely happy that the motion which I was to 
have had the honour of making to-day is no longer necessary, 
and it is with a most sincere and heartfelt satisfaction that I 
inform the House that I decline bringing it forward.' 

"Expressions of joy and satisfaction were heard on all sides. 
Mr. Drake began with saying that 'as he was one who had 
joined his feeble voice ' — as Mr. Drake had a most powerful 
voice, and always spoke uncommonly loud, there was a universal 
roar of laughter, in which Mr. Drake, with equal good humour, 
joined, then ralhed by saying that 'undoubtedly his voice was 
not feeble by nature, but most feeble when weighed with the 
Httle importance of the person who possessed it. But he joined 
his hearty voice in congratulation, and declared his unfeigned 
joy in what had occurred. The excessive gladness of his heart 
was superior to eloquence, and the pleasantness of his sensations 
almost deprived him of the power of uttering his sentences 
inteUigibly.' 

"Mr. Pitt 'readily concurred in the joy which the hon. 
gentleman expressed.' Mr. Fox said 'that all must feel the 
highest satisfaction; but he added that it would remain to be 
seen by substantial acts whether their motion were necessary 
or not.' Mr. Rolle introduced into the general harmony a 
jarring note. 'He tempered his satisfaction by observing that 
if it should hereafter appear that any concession had been 
made, humihating to the country or dishonourable in itself, he 
would be the first man to stand up and stigmatise it as it de- 
served.' Mr. Pitt 'assured him that it was not so.'" 

Then Sheridan rose for the purpose of carrying out the 

1 "Parliamentary History," vol. xxvi., 1 786-1 788, from which the following 
quotations are taken. 



144 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

delicate and difficult task with which the Prince had entrusted 
him. He wa^ "to say something" which, while it would leave 
Fox's denial of the marriage unimpaired, would yet soothe the 
irritated feehngs of Mrs. Fitzherbert. To do this without 
bringing up Rolle was a feat which taxed even the ingenuity of 
Sheridan. However, he got through it creditably. 

Mr. Sheridan began by saying that: "He could not but 
believe that there existed on that day but one feeling and one 
sentiment in the House, that of heartfelt satisfaction at the 
auspicious conclusion to which the business was understood to 
be brought . . . Mr. Sheridan, however, wished it to be under- 
stood that though his Royal Highness felt the most perfect 
satisfaction at the prospect before him . . . yet did he also 
desire it to be distinctly remembered that no attempt had at 
any time been made to screen any part of his conduct, actions, 
or situation, from their view; that he even offered to answer 
himself (in the House of Lords) any question that might be 
put to him. That no such idea had been pursued, that no such 
inquiry had been adopted, was a point which did credit to the 
decorum and dignity of Parliament." [So far all had been 
plain saihng, but now Sheridan came to the most delicate part 
of his task.] Mr. Sheridan continued: "But while his Royal 
Highness's feelings had been doubtless considered on the occa- 
sion, he must take the liberty of saying, however much some 
might think it a subordinate consideration, that there was 
another Person entitled in every honourable and delicate mind 
to the same attention, whom he would not otherwise attempt to 
describe, or allude to, except to affirm that ignorance or vulgar 
malice alone could have persevered in attempting to injure one 
on whose conduct truth could fix no just reproach, and whose 
character claimed, and was entitled to, the truest and most 
general respect." 

Sheridan's words made a sensation in the House, but the 
accounts of how they were received differ. His speech was 
followed, we are told in one account, by a murmur of general 
approval, and his remarks were felt to be in the best of taste. 
On the other hand Daniel Pulteney writes to the Duke of 
Rutland the same day,^ May 4, 1787: "What Mrs. Fitzherbert 

1 Rutland MSS., op. cit. 



SHERIDAN'S APOLOGY 145 

can do in her present embarrassed situation I cannot pretend 
to guess, but Sheridan attempted, very foohshly, to repair the 
statement respecting the marriage by saying to-day in the 
House her situation was ' truly respectable,' at which every one 
smiled." 

Sheridan's explanation or apology, call it what we will, 
served to throw doubt on Fox's denial. It has been well said, 
"Mr. Fox had declared that a lady living with the Prince to all 
exterior appearance in the habits of matrimonial connection 
had not the sanction of any canonical forms to support her; 
whilst, on the other hand, Sheridan reversed the picture, by 
representing her as a paragon of chastity, the possessor of every 
virtue, and the ornament of her sex." 

Fox could not have been well pleased to hear Sheridan's 
encomiums. But where women were concerned, he was always 
a cynic, and he appears to have felt it his duty to let Sheridan's 
speech make no difference in his course of action, and to do his 
best to secure the payment of the Prince's debts. These debts 
were settled a few weeks later, after some further hesitation and 
delay, due, Pitt afterwards said, to the shiftiness of the King. 
George III. succeeded in the end in shelving the greater portion 
of them off his shoulders on to Parliament. A fresh schedule 
was prepared for the King "with the debts of honour left out," 
and on May 21, 1787, the Prime Minister brought down to the 
House the royal message recommending a discharge of the 
Prince of Wales's embarrassments on the strength of a "well- 
grounded expectation" that he would not contract debts in 
future. The House of Commons, in response, voted ;;^i6i,ooo 
in payment of the Prince's debts and ;^6o,ooo for the completion 
of Carlton House. The King on his part agreed to give the 
Prince another ;^io,ooo a year out of his own Civil List. 

The Prince hailed this relief with delight, though the increase 
of his income was too small to be of any real use, and the sumi 
voted for Carlton House was only a third of what was necessary, 
and there was no grant for his new Pavilion at Brighton. But 
he probably regarded the Parliamentary grant only as an instal- 
ment which would serve to tide him over his present difficulty. 

The prodigal son was now taken back to the paternal fold, 
and that all might see that peace was restored to the royal 
family, the reconciliation between the Prince of Wales and his 



146 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

parents was as public as their quarrel. The chief personages 
in the Prince's household attended the drawing-room on May 24, 
and the King and Queen received them with great affability. 
The next day the Prince had an interview with the King of three 
hours' duration, after which he was presented to his mother and 
sisters; everything was forgiven and all was harmony. 

By Mrs. Fitzherbert the Prince was also forgiven, but she 
did not yield without difficulty. Sheridan's speech in the House 
of Commons, though it had soothed her wounded feelings, had 
not satisfied her. How could it do so? How could anything 
do so short of an avowal of the marriage as public as the denial ? 
But even she saw that the political exigencies of the situation 
made this impossible. Her first thought was to break off all 
connection with the Prince, and had she consulted her own 
dignity and happiness she would have done so. For a time she 
would not see him, and he became quite ijl from the agitation 
brought on by her refusal. He had one of his violent paroxysms, 
and had to be bled. Alarming rumours were circulated about 
his health, of course greatly exaggerated. "He is better to-day, 
but still in great danger," wrote Thomas Orde to the Duke of 
Rutland, May 28, 1787.^ The Prince vowed he would kill 
himself unless Mrs. Fitzherbert forgave him. These manoeu- 
vres had the effect of persuading her — perhaps she was willing 
to be persuaded — that the Prince was not really to blame in 
the matter at all, it was all the work of the wicked Fox. She 
yielded to the Prince's prayers and to the entreaties of their 
friends, and a reconcihation took place; but though of a for- 
giving disposition, she absolutely refused to forgive Fox, and 
made it a condition that she should not be forced to meet him. 
This the Prince could promise with safety, for Fox, disgusted 
with what he considered to be the Prince's ingratitude, and not 
caring to face Mrs. Fiztherbert, absented himself from Carlton 
House, and later went abroad. 

Short of a public disavowal of Fox's speech the Prince did 
everything to cast a doubt upon the lie told in Parliament. It 
was understood among Mrs. Fitzherbert's intimates and his 
own, that the denial had been made for political purposes only, 
and, taking their cue from their royal master, the minions of 

1 Rutland MSS., op. cit. 



SHERIDAN'S APOLOGY 147 

Carlton House went about everywhere whispering that Fox had 
exceeded his instructions. 

The reconcihation between the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert 
reems to have been effected after a few weeks, for Lord Ailesbury 
writes, May 25: "I met the Prince of Wales, as I went past the 
Queen's House, in his phaeton, in which I understood he took 
Mrs. Fitzherbert to Epsom races, and on his return, after a 
cold dinner, he was at the Duchess of Gordon's ball, where my 
daughter saw him dance. Mrs. Fitzherbert danced a good 
deal." ^ 

Again we read of a grand ball and supper at Sir Sampson 
and Lady Gideon's. At supper Mrs. Fitzherbert sat with the 
Prince at the head of the table between her host and hostess. 
It was noticed that she wore white roses in her hair and at her 
breast; all her intimate friends were present, and the company 
vied with each other in paying her homage. This supper was 
facetiously known as the "Feast of Reconcihation." Such was 
the belief in the goodness of her character that she gained respect 
rather than lost it by Fox's denial of her marriage. "She in- 
formed me," wrote Lord Stourton, "that the pubhc supported 
her by their conduct on this occasion ; for at no part of her life 
were their visits so numerous at her house as on the day which 
followed Mr. Fox's memorable speech; and, to use her own 
expression, the knocker of her door was never still during the 
whole day." She was generally regarded as a cruelly injured 
woman, the victim of political expediency. Not only did her 
friends, hke the Duchess of Cumberland and the Duchess of 
Devonshire, hasten to show their sympathy, [but the Duchess 
of Portland, who had hitherto held aloof, and whose husband 
had quarrelled with the Prince, now called on Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
and asked her to her house. By so doing she showed to all 
that neither she nor the Duke beheved what Fox had said. 
Lord and Lady Sefton, who had hitherto avoided Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert since her marriage, followed suit. The Tory Duchess 
of Gordon, a great friend of Pitt's and of Queen Charlotte's, 
loudly proclaimed that Fox had lied, and showed her belief in 
Mrs. Fitzherbert by inviting her to the ball already mentioned. 
The Duke of Gloucester, the King's brother, who, with his 

1 "Diary of Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury." Ailesbury MSS. Historical 
MSS. Commission, vol. ii. 



148 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Duchess, was at Florence, wrote to Mrs. Fitzherbert a little note, 
and sent her a present, which, coming at this time, was of great 
significance: — 

H.R.H. The Duke 0} Gloucester, to Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

"Florence, May 24, 1787. 
"Dear Madam, — I take the opportunity of a private hand 
to desire your acceptance of a Cestus, done in oyster shell. I 
hope you will think it pretty. Pray send us by the safest oppor- 
tunity some account to trust to of the present negotiation. I 
hope the Prince will be made easy in his affairs. I sincerely 
hope you are happy and well, for I know you deserve it. I 
remain, dear Madam, your humble Servant, 

"William Henry." ^ 

Thus the King's two brothers and their wives, and some of 
the greatest ladies of society, on both sides of pohtics, showed 
their sympathy with Mrs. Fitzherbert in this crisis, and no 
doubt it was their support which enabled her to bear with 
admirable temper and dignity the cruel imputation which had 
been cast upon her. The old Roman Catholic families, which 
included some of the greatest names in the peerage, rallied round 
her. They considered that she had been made to suffer on 
account of her religion. Even those who had thought her 
imprudent and unwise in consenting to such a marriage sup- 
ported her now that the fact of the marriage was called into 
question. To the Archbishop of Canterbury it all seemed 
"very odd," particularly as he noted "the lady is more received 
than ever she was, and stands more forward." To those who 
accepted Fox's denial it was naturally "odd." 

Though these were few in London society, among the 
general public they were numerous. And from them Mrs. 
Fitzherbert had to run the gauntlet of much ignorant criticism 
and pubhc odium. Gillray published (May 21, 1787) a pohtical 
print entitled "Dido Forsaken. Sic transit Gloria Reginae." 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, grasping a crucifix, is seated all forlorn on a 
rock. A breeze blown by Pitt and Dundas carries away her 
coronet and feathers, as Princess of Wales. In a boat named 

1 This letter was found among Mrs, Fitzherbert's papers after her death. 



SHERIDAN'S APOLOGY 149 

Honour, bound for Windsor, sail away the Prince, Fox, who 
steers, Lord North, and Burke. The Prince says, ''I never 
saw her in my Hfe." Fox cries "No, never in his life, damme." 
Burke and North echo, "No, never." On the ground lie fetters, 
an axe, rods, and a harrow "for the conversion of heretics" — 
another allusion to Mrs. Fitzherbert's religion, which, indeed, 
was the prime cause of all her troubles. 

A great many ill-informed articles appeared in the English 
papers, unnecessary to be quoted here, but a French paper, 
Le Courier de VEurope, which was supposed to represent in 
some measure the views of the foreign Courts, contained the 
following venomous paragraph: — "La fable du pretendu mar- 
riage de S.A. Mgr. le Prince de Galles, a enfin ete expliquee en 
plein Parlement de maniere a ne plus laisser de doute. C'est 
une expUcation, qui est d'autant plus facheuse pour Mad. Fitz. 
que Ton a suppose des Hens entre S.A.R. et cette dame pour 
lesquels on n'avoit pas encore prononces. Jusqu'ici Mad. F. 
a etait re(^ue dans toutes les societes, ou etoit invite le Prince, 
mais il ne sera guere possible aujourd'hui qu'elle jouisse les 
memes avantages, a moins que cette premiere exphcation n'en 
entraine une autre et que la pretendue intimite de S.A.R. ne 
soit presentee sous couleurs admissibles en bonne compagnie." 

This paper, it will be seen, made no allusion to Sheridan's 
apology. In any case its forecast was wrong. Mrs. Fitzherbert 
was more generally received than before. 



CHAPTER XII 

A QUEEN OF HEARTS 

(1787-1789) 

The Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert left London earlier than 
usual this year (1787). The first days of July found them at 
Brighton, the Prince at his Pavilion, and Mrs. Fitzherbert at 
her little house hard by. They were followed by a numerous 
company. Marvellous was the change which every year now 
wrought in Brighton. This year it was filled to overflowing: 
not a house or lodging was to be had, and its virtues as a health 
resort were extolled to the skies. "We have never seen H.R.H. 
in better health or more buoyant spirits than in his evening 
walks on the Steine," writes a journal; "his company on these 
promenades, exclusive of the gentlemen of his suite, was Mrs. 
F[itzherbert], the Countess of Talbot, and Lady Stowell." ^ 
The Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert promenaded daily on the 
Steine, which was the meeting-place of all the Prince's friends. 
Brighton was fast becoming the favourite resort of many families 
of distinction, who took houses there, such as the Marlborough 
family, the Duke of Grafton (of "Junius" notoriety), the Tan- 
kervilles, the Downshires, the Clares, and the Duke of Bedford. 
The Prince often appeared on the Steine leaning on the arm of 
the Duke, who was a great friend both of the Prince and of 
Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

The Prince indulged in healthy pleasures. Cricket was one 
of his favourite pastimes this year, and many were the matches 
played in the Pavihon Gardens. Every morning, weather per- 
mitting, the Prince bathed in the sea, and his swimming was 
superintended by an amphibious old sailor called Smoker. 
The following anecdote of Smoker has come down to us : — A 
boisterous night was succeeded by a very rough sea, and the 

Morning Herald, July 24, 1787. 
150 




MARTHA GUNN 
THE BRIGHTON BATHING-WOMAN 




WELTJE 
THE PRINCE'S COOK AND MAJOR-DOMO 



A QUEEN OF HEARTS 151 

waves broke upon the beach with great violence. The Prince 
notwithstanding repaired to his usual bathing-place, where 
Smoker was waiting to receive him. "I shall bathe this morn- 
ing, Smoker." "No, no, your Royal Highness," replied 
Smoker, "it is too dangerous." "But I will," said the Prince, 
and was proceeding towards the machine, when the doughty 
Smoker stepped in front of him, and putting himself in a boxing 
attitude (for the fellow could box as well as he could swim), 
expostulated with the Prince as follows: — "Come, come, this 
won't do. I'll be damned if you shall bathe. What do you 
think your royal father would think of me if you were drowned ? 
He would say, 'This is all owing to you, Smoker. If you had 
taken proper care of him, poor George would still be alive.' " ^ 
The Prince good-naturedly desisted. He often related the 
anecdote to his friends. 

Smoker had his counterpart in Martha Gunn, the celebrated 
bathing- wo man of Brighton, who superintended the marine 
ablutions of many beautiful ladies, among others of Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, whom she always addressed as "Mrs. Prince." Martha 
Gunn was in high favour with the Prince, who often joked with 
her on the subject of her calling with more wit than delicacy. 
Martha was what was known as a "ticket holder," and she had 
the traditional right of entry to the royal kitchen at the Pavihon, 
where she was always well treated. The following story is told 
of one of her visits: — "When in the kitchen one afternoon 
Martha was presented with a pound of butter. The Prince at 
that moment was seen entering the kitchen, and Martha, whis- 
pering to the servants, quickly deposited the butter in her 
pocket. This little bit of legerdemain was, doubtless, observed 
by the Prince; and, being ripe for a joke, he speedily entered 
into conversation with Martha, getting the 'butter side' of her, 
and edging her nearer and nearer to the great kitchen fire. It 
was a sad dilemma. The Prince kept talking, and the butter 
kept melting! But the venerable dame — whose rueful coun- 
tenance doubtless betrayed her sensations — was afraid to move. 
External evidence on the floor, however, soon after showed the 
Prince that his design was accomplished, and he bade the old 
lady 'good day.' The internal evidence he was contented to 

1 "Brighton in the Olden Time {pamphlet), By an Inhabitant thereof." 



152 



MRS. FITZHERBERT 



leave to Martha herself. What this was may be imagined, but 
deponent sayeth not." ^ 

Despite his love of a practical joke, occasionally at his 
servants' expense, the Prince was adored by all his retainers for 
his friendhness and kindly interest in their welfare. No master 
ever had more devoted servants than he. 

Of the Prince's kindness to his servants there are many 
anecdotes. Once at Brighton a stable-boy named Tom Croys 
had been dismissed by the head groom for stealing oats. Going 
round his stables one day the Prince noticed the boy was gone, 
and inquired the cause. When he was told, he was extremely 
angry that any one in his service should be dismissed without 
his knowledge, and commanded that the boy should be sent 
for. The boy, tears trickling down his face, was brought before 
his royal master. The Prince reprimanded him, asked if it 
were a first offence, and then said: "Tom, if you are taken 
back to my stables again, can I trust you?" The boy promised 
amendment. Then said the Prince: "Go back and recover 
your character. Be diligent, be honest, and make me your 
friend; and, hark 'ee, Tom, I will take care that no one shall 
ever taunt you with what is passed." The boy went back, and 
became an honest and trustworthy servant. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert received the warmest welcome this year at 
Brighton. No one believed Fox's denial of her marriage, and 
every one was anxious, by increased respect, to make amends 
for the wrong done her. The public repudiation "in the House 
of Commons," wrote an old Brighton habitue in after years, 
"did not appear to have any more effect upon the Brighton 
community than it produced on herself. High authorities in 
the fashionable world — confidential friends of the lady — 
mysteriously intimated a knowledge that the denial was a sham, 
and as the heir-apparent still continued to be accessible by 
paying attention to her, the excitement respecting Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert and the Prince remained unabated. ... I can recall 
her to mind at this time," continues the writer, "radiant in her 
brilhant loveliness — her deHcate features, her pure complexion, 
her exquisite brown eyes, her serene expression, combining to 
produce a face that impressed every spectator with a dehghtful 

1 "The Brighton Pavilion and its Royal Associations." By J. G. Bishop. 



A QUEEN OF HEARTS i5j 

sense of amiability and tenderness; while her figure, set off to 
the best advantage by the costume of the time, was always dis- 
tinguishable from those of the aristocratic beauties by whom 
she was generally surrounded, by its singular dignity and 
grace. Though nobody ventured to call her 'Princess,' every 
one of her innumerable admirers of both sexes enthroned her 
as a queen. She was recognised as the 'Queen of Hearts' 
throughout the length and breadth of fast-increasing Brighton, 
and a more loyal people it was impossible for a Sovereign to 
have. They honoured her, they almost worshipped her. Proud 
was the aspirant of Fashion who succeeded in obtaining her 
notice in public; honoured the devotee of gentihty who could 
boast the least acquaintance with her in private. To be 
invited to meet her at the palatial Pavilion was acknowledged 
to be a covetable distinction, but to be welcomed by her to her 
modest house was regarded as a precious privilege. She never 
had an enemy, and was constantly increasing her circle of 
friends." 

The late Mr. Shergold of Brighton, who died within the 
memory of many, has also given an enthusiastic account of 
Mrs. Fitzherbert as she appeared about this period. 

"I have seen Mrs. Fitzherbert," he writes, "many a time 
and oft. Once I had the pleasure to see that beautiful creature 
in a way that made a deep impression on me. I was going 
from Castle Square towards the Steine, and had just arrived at 
the corner of the Castle Tavern, and was turning, when Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, accompanied by her brother, Mr. Smythe, appeared. 
I was then about eighteen, a very susceptible age, when a man 
feels the beauty of woman, the beauty of art, the beauty of 
poetry, the beauty of everything really beautiful, if ever he feels 
it at all. The lady was walking — the day was splendid, the 
sun was at its meridian — there was not a cloud. All this I 
remember well, and I remember well also, that at the moment 
the most beautiful object in the world seemed to be Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert. Had I seen the lady sitting or standing I should 
doubtless have thought her beautiful; but her fine and graceful 
person was in motion — her countenance, at all times singularly 
expressive, was unusually animated by the fineness of the 
weather, and, as she came suddenly upon me, with all her 
personal attractions heightened by the same adventitious setting- 



154 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

off, I saw her more than usually beautiful . . . She was a 
woman who needed nothing but a diadem to make her a 
queen." 

Mrs. Fitzherbert was in fact the recognised queen of the 
fashionable society in Brighton. All who went there paid her 
court. This was so well understood that the Duke of Rutland, 
who was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, wrote from Dubhn to his 
Duchess ^ not to go to Brighton, as in that event the Prince of 
Wales would ask her to visit Mrs. Fitzherbert, "which I would 
have you avoid, but I hear it is indispensable with him, so you 
had better be silent on that head until he asks you — if he 
should do so at all — and then I think your state of health will 
be a good excuse." ^ And again: "If you go to bathe in the 
sea, do not go to Brighthelmstone, because you will be under a 
difficulty about Mrs. Fitzherbert." 

But the Duchess did not heed her lord. She was a stately 
beauty of the type of a Grecian goddess, haughty and very 
self-willed. We find her in July at Brighton, and the Duke 
still writing (July 29), "I hope you will not find embarrassment 
about Mrs. Fitzherbert." So far from suffering any "embar- 
rassment," we find the .Duchess joining the Prince's select 
party at the Lewes races, a party which included Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland, and the Prin- 
cesse de Lamballe, "who was particularly distinguished through 
the day by the enviable attentions of the Duke of Queensberry," ^ 
Lord and Lady Abergavenny, the Countess of Talbot, Lord 
Clermont, &c. 

One night early in August, when the Prince was supping at 
the PaviHon, seated between the Princesse de Lamballe and 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, the news came to him that his brother Fred- 
erick, Duke of York, had come back to England from the 
Continent after a banishment of seven years. The Prince at 
once posted off to Windsor to welcome his brother. The Duke 
had been sent into exile shortly before his elder brother came 
of age, because, in the King's opinion, the brothers acted and 

> Mary Isabella, daughter of the fourth Duke of Beaufort, m. 1775, Charles, 
fourth Duke of Rutland, K.G., Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, who died at Dublin 
later in the same year, 1787. The Duke's objections, it may be noted, were 
official rather than personal, the Duchess being the wife of the Viceroy. 

2 Rutland MSS., op. cit. 

3 The Morning Herald, August 6, 1787. 



A QUEEN OF HEARTS 155 

reacted badly on one another. The experiment had not suc- 
ceeded in the case of the Duke of York, for he achieved at 
Osnabriick, Hanover, and Paris, a reputation for wildness, so 
great as to astonish even Mirabeau. His reputation was prob- 
ably exaggerated — it was certainly belied by his appearance. 
There is a picture of him by Sir Joshua Reynolds at this time 
which depicts him as a tall, slim youth, with a shght stoop, 
delicate features, and a refined, sensitive mouth. There is 
nothing in the picture of the grossness which makes itself 
apparent in the better-known portraits of the Duke in later life. 

The Duke of York, despite his failings, which were those 
of most young princes of his age, had many fine quahties. 
Like the rest of George III.'s sons, he was handsome, high- 
spirited, and good-hearted. His manners lacked the grace and 
courtesy of those of the Prince of Wales. He was brusque, 
boisterous, and broad in conversation, but he was more truthful 
than his elder brother, more straightforward, more sincere, and 
he never forsook a friend. He made many mistakes in later 
life, but his friends loved him, and one said of him that "he 
always had the instincts of an English gentleman." He was 
the favourite son of George III., who was never tired of con- 
trasting him favourably with the Prince of Wales. One won- 
ders, if he were so fond of him, why he ever sent him away. 
The description of his home-coming is Arcadian in its display 
of family affection; the happy father embraced his long absent 
son, the Queen and her daughters joined in the raptures. The 
Prince of Wales had posted all through the night fror^ Brighton, 
and when he reached Windsor the meeting between the brothers, 
we are told, was "most affecting." After regarding one another 
for a moment in silence they embraced, and the Prince was 
moved to tears. Separation had only strengthened their fra- 
ternal affection, and it was soon apparent that if the Duke of 
York had to choose between his father and his elder brother he 
would throw in his lot unhesitatingly with the latter. 

As soon as the family gathering at Windsor broke up the 
Prince took his long-lost brother to Brighton and introduced 
him to Mrs. Fitzherbert. Thus began a friendship which 
lasted through life; the Duke formed a high idea of Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert's character and judgment. He must early have known 
that some form of marriage had taken place between her and 



156 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

his brother, and a less honourable man might have turned the 
knowledge to his advantage. The Duke was, as Fox reminded 
the Prince of Wales in his memorable letter, the King's favourite 
son, and the next after him in succession to the throne. It was 
a disputed legal point whether the Royal Marriage Act abrogated 
the clause in the Act of Settlement which made the Prince who 
contracted a marriage with a Roman Cathohc inehgible for the 
succession, but whether it did, or did not, the Duke of York, 
stout Protestant though he was, never raised the question. He 
was the last man in the world to betray a confidence, or to push 
forward his own interests at the expense of those of his brother. 
He had a sincere regard and affection for Mrs. Fitzherbert also, 
and would never willingly do anything to cause her pain. He 
invariably treated her with that deference and respect which a 
man, however dissolute he may be, shows, if he is a gentleman, 
to a good woman. Later, the Duke of York rendered Mrs. 
Fitzherbert material service, by becoming a medium of commu- 
nication between her and his parents. But that was not yet, 
for the King and Queen still regarded her coldly, and were 
anxious that all connection between her and the Prince should 
be broken off. 

There were great rejoicings at Brighton during the summer 
that followed the Duke's return. The Prince celebrated his 
birthday at the Pavilion by a sumptuous entertainment, and in 
the evening the town was illuminated. But the gaiety never 
degenerated into license, and Mrs. Fitzherbert's good influence 
continued as strong as ever. This improvement was noted 
with great candour by the press. "The Prince of Wales gains 
many hearts by his affabihty and good-humour. His company 
is much better than it used to be, and he is certainly more sober 
in his Hbations to Bacchus. Mrs. Fitzherbert looks more elegant 
than ever. One could indeed hardly help exclaiming with the 
army of Mahomet II., when he showed them his Irene, 'Such 
a woman is worth a kingdom.'" ^ 

Though Mrs. Fitzherbert was much attached to the Duke 
of York, it may be feared that his return after a while rather 
added to her trials than helped her. The royal brothers, in 
their joy at being re-united, when they got to London, plunged 

^Morning Post, August 9, 1787. 







FREDERICK, DUKE OF YORK AND BISHOP OF 
OSNABRUCK 



A QUEEN OF HEARTS 157 

once more into riotous gaiety. Mrs. Fitzherbcrt suffered much 
in consequence, not only on the Prince's account but her own, 
for her natural refinement recoiled from these scenes of revelry. 
She was also subject at this time to annoyance from the fanati- 
cism of the half-crazed Lord George Gordon, who had fomented 
the Gordon riots in 1780, which had been indirectly responsible 
for the death of Mrs. Fitzherbert's second husband. He now 
again tormented her because of her reported marriage to the 
Prince of Wales. He was at this time being prosecuted for a 
libel he had circulated concerning the Queen of France. He 
dragged into his defence, with a view of inflaming popular 
passion, the Prince of Wales's "Papistical wife," of whom he 
spoke with great freedom, and said that he desired her to attend 
the court and give evidence. When he was asked for what 
reason he wished Mrs. Fitzherbert to appear in court, he replied 
that he had had a conversation with her in Paris a few years 
ago concerning some intrigue between the French and British 
Courts, and he wished to substantiate what he had said. Of 
course Mrs. Fitzherbert refused to appear, but nothing daunted, 
Lord George called at her house in London and tried to serve 
a subpoena on her. He was turned out of doors by her servants, 
and he was also threatened with chastisement by her brother 
if he molested her further. The threat had its effect, for he 
did not go to her house again. But he wrote the following letter 
to Mr. Pitt: — 

Lord George Gordon to the Right Hon. William Pitt, M.P. 

"Sir, — Mr. Walter Smythe, brother to Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
came to my house in Welbeck Street this morning, accompanied 
by Mr. Acton, to be present whilst he informed me that he 
would call me to an account if I went to Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
house again, or wrote to her, or to him, or took liberties with 
their names in public, as Mrs. Fitzherbert was very much 
alarmed when my name was mentioned. I answered, that I 
looked upon this as a threatening visit; but that I must yet 
apply to Mrs. Fitzherbert, or himself, or Sir Carnaby Haggerston 
as often as I found occasion, till a written answer was sent to 
me concerning the proper title of their sister, just as if he had 
not called upon me. Some other conversation passed respecting 



158 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

the marriage; but this was the substance and result of the 
whole. I think it my duty to inform you, as Prime Minister, 
that you may be apprised of, and communicate to the House of 
Commons, the overbearing disposition of the Papists. I have 
the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient and humble servant, 

"4 o'clock, Friday, May 4, 1788." " ^- GORDON. 

These were trials undoubtedly, yet Mrs. Fitzherbert had 
her compensations. The Prince was still devotedly attached 
to her, and her wishes were his law. 

The year which followed (i 788-1 789) may be regarded as 
marking the highest point of her influence over the Prince. 
Her enemy (as she conceived him to be), Charles James Fox, 
was still abroad, "disgusted," as he said, "with the pohtical 
situation," and indignant,- so his friends said, at the way in 
which the Prince had used him for his purpose, and then given 
the He to what he had stated in the House of Commons. For 
by every act and word, short of open acknowledgment of his 
marriage, the Prince seemed desirous of mitigating the force 
of Fox's declaration. He treated Mrs. Fitzherbert with all the , 
deference which a man shows to his honoured wife. She was 
everywhere, by his command, treated with respect, which was 
only second to that shown to Royalty. He showered gifts upon 
her; had she wished it she might have had jewels worth a king's 
ransom. With part of the money given him by Parliament, the 
Prince took for her a mansion in Pall Mall, and decorated and 
furnished it in a style of magnificence which vied with Carlton 
House, though it was modified by her taste into a quiet and 
refined luxury. Here Mrs. Fitzherbert maintained an estab- 
lishment which was semi-royal. She did not hve alone; an 
elderly lady of good birth and irreproachable character, well 
known to the royal family, Miss Pigot, stayed in her house, 
accompanied her in public, and filled the position of companion, 
or rather of lady-in-waiting. All the wits and politicians, who 
were known as "the Prince's friends," paid her their homage, 
and all the place-hunters craved her favour with the Prince, 
recognising that she was all powerful. Yet she never once 
abused the trust placed in her, never thrust herself forward 
unduly, never asked for a place or position for a friend, unless 
that friend were qualified for it on other grounds than her 



A QUEEN OF HEARTS 159 

friendship. Through all her prosperity she never lost her head, 
never presumed on her position, or used lier influence for ignoble 
ends; never forgot a friend, and was always gracious, kindly, 
and unassuming. At her house in Pall Mall she entertained 
freely. Mary Frampton, who had known her as Mrs. Weld of 
Lul worth, describes one of these receptions in her " Journal " : — 

"When Mrs. Fitzherbert was living in Pall Mall, within a 
few doors of Carlton House, we were at one of the assemblies 
she gave, which was altogether the most splendid I was ever at. 
Attendants in green and gold, besides the usual hvery servants, 
were stationed in the rooms and up the staircase to announce 
the company and carry about refreshments, &c. The house 
was most beautifully furnished ; one room was hung with pucked 
blue satin. A whole-length picture of the Prince of Wales, and 
his bust, and that of the Duke of York, ornamented the dining- 
room. Her own manners ever remained quiet, civil, and un- 
pretending; and in the days of her greatest influence she was 
never accused of using it improperly. The Prince and, I think, 
his brother the Duke of York, came in late to the assembly." ^ 

In November 1789 the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert were at 
Brighton, surrounded by their friends, when news reached 
them of the alarming illness of the King. Throughout the 
autumn, strange rumours had been current in weU-informed 
circles concerning the King, and these gradually filtered down 
through the clubs and coffee-houses to the general public. At 
a Levee, held early in November, the King behaved so strangely 
as to give all present the impression that his mind was disordered. 
Still his physicians did not interfere, and for nearly a fortnight 
later, the King was allowed to continue the round of his fatigu- 
ing duties without let or hindrance, with the result that he be- 
came worse every day. Every effort was made to conceal hi? 
condition, but in the King's immediate circle there was a dread 
of coming disaster. The Prince of Wales was kept in ignorance 
as long as possible, but at last came a report that the King was 
really out of his mind. Then he determined to see how matters 
stood for himself, and posted from Brighton to Windsor, where 
the Duke of York already was. He found the King's state to 
be worse than he anticipated. The unhappy monarch per- 

1 Frampton, op. cit. 



i6o MRS. FITZHERBERT 

petually paced up and down, pouring out a stream of incoherent 
talk, until he rendered himself almost unintelligible from hoarse- 
ness. Still he was under no restraint. The arrival of the Prince 
at Windsor brought matters to a cHmax. In the evening, during 
dinner, the King suddenly, and without provocation, flew at 
his eldest son, seized him by the collar, and pushed him against 
the wall, violently demanding if he dared to prevent the King 
of England from speaking his mind. Instantly there was great 
confusion — the Queen fell into hysterics, the Princesses 
screamed, the Prince of Wales, as was his wont when agitated, 
burst into tears. The Duke of York and some of the courtiers 
intervened, and the King presently let his son go, and suffered 
himself to be led away to his room. That night he was quite 
mad, and, his physicians feared, in danger of his life. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE STRUGGLE FOR THE REGENCY 

(i 788-1 789) 

The Prince of Wales suddenly found himself thrust into a 
position of responsibility. Instead of returning to Brighton 
next day, as he had intended, he remained at Windsor, and 
took the direction of affairs into his own hands. It is admitted 
that he behaved, at this trying juncture, with dignity and dis- 
cretion. The bad news spread rapidly all over the kingdom. 
In London it was generally beheved that the King's illness was 
of a fatal nature. Pitt thought so too; he reahsed that the 
King's death meant his own loss of power, for he could expect 
nothing from the Prince, whose wishes he had constantly 
thwarted. The Government was in a difficult situation, and 
its difficulty was increased by the uncertainty as to how the 
Lord Chancellor, Thurlow,^ would act. His dislike and jeal- 
ousy of Pitt were notorious, and he was quite ready to throw 
in his lot with the Prince's party should it prove to be the winning 
side. The Lord Chief Justice, Loughborough,^ was also secretly 
hostile to Pitt. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert, who had been left at Brighton, hastened 
up to London on receipt of the news from Windsor, so as to be 
in more direct communication with the Prince. The King's 
dangerous illness affected her only one degree less acutely than 
it affected the heir-apparent himself. The Prince had always 
promised her full reparation when it should be in his power, 
and now that his succession to the throne seemed imminent, 
the power would soon be in his hands. Whatever form that 
reparation took, it could not fail to influence profoundly her 
future life. Mrs. Fitzherbert was not an ambitious woman, 

1 Edward Thurlow, first Baron Thurlow, Lord Chancellor (i 731-1806). 
^ Alexander Wedderburn, first Baron Loughborough, and first Earl of 
Rosslyn, sometime Lord Chancellor (i 735-1805). 
M 161 



1 62 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

nor was she one who sought her own interest, except where her 
good name was concerned. She did not care for weahh or 
power, and, though the prospect which now opened before her 
eyes might have dazzled any woman, she. kept her head. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert went to her house in Pall Mall, and was 
soon in communication with the Prince's friends. She brought 
with her from Brighton Sheridan and his wife, and they stayed 
with her for a time, "having," writes a contemporary, "no 
other habitation." The near prospect of place and emolument 
intoxicated the impecunious Sheridan. He acted as the Prince's 
confidential agent in London; while at Windsor the Prince had 
with him one of his equerries. Admiral Payne, famiharly known 
as " Jack Payne," who sent daily bulletins of the progress of 
the King's illness to the Prince's friends in London. This 
illness went from bad to worse, until it seemed that the King's 
death was only a question of hours. "The last stroke," wrote 
Payne to Loughborough with ill-disguised eagerness, "as I hear, 
from the best authority, cannot be far off. It is what everybody, 
in a situation to see, is obhged to wish as the happiest possible 
termination to the melancholy scene. The event we looked for 
last night is postponed perhaps for a short time." Yet even as 
Payne was writing, his confident anticipations were being falsi- 
fied. The King, who was thought to be almost at his last 
gasp, fell into a profound sleep, from which he awoke much 
better. The crisis was passed. The next day the doctors 
pronounced him to be out of immediate danger, so far as his 
bodily health was concerned; but his mental affliction remained 
as bad, or worse, than before, and the physicians confessed that 
they considered it to be permanent. 

The King's rally was a blow to the Prince and his friends. 
He decently masked his disappointment, but they did not con- 
ceal theirs. The new situation demanded a complete revision 
of plans, for a Regency, and not a sovereignty, was now the end 
in view. A council of the Prince's friends was hurriedly called 
at Bagshot. Thither came secretly the Prince and Payne from 
Windsor, and Sheridan and Mrs. Fitzherbert drove down from 
London. Lord Loughborough had been invited, but now that 
the King was better he was too cautious to come, and in a long 
despatch he advised the Prince to adopt "not dissimulation, but 
a certain reserve and guard upon the frankness of that amiable 



STRUGGLE FOR THE REGENCY 163 

disposition, which is the ornament and dehght of society." 
What took place at the meeting is not known, but no communi- 
cation at that time seems to have been made by the Prince to 
the ofhcial heads of the Wliig party. Sheridan had in fact, by 
his eagerness for place, and his anxiety to display his own 
importance and show his possession of the Prince's confidence, 
given offence to the Duke of Portland and other influential 
Whigs. But one important development followed on the Bag- 
shot council. The Prince determined to consult Fox as to 
what should be done. The news could not have been welcome 
to Mrs. Fitzherbert, yet she must have seen that he was the 
only man to save the situation. To the Prince at such a crisis 
he was indispensable. 

Fox was abroad, but a messenger had been sent to him 
on the sixth day after the King's outburst at Windsor, and 
since then courier after courier had been despatched to him in 
furious haste. Fox had been abroad for many months, and 
had planned for himself an Itahan tour, in company with Mrs. 
Armitstead. Disgusted with affairs in England, he had pur- 
posely left no address. He received no letters and he read no 
newspapers. The first messenger despatched from Windsor 
traced Fox to Geneva, but lost track of him there. After many 
false scents he finally ran him to earth at Bologna. 

Fox appreciated the gravity of the situation, and lost not a 
moment in obeying the Prince's summons. Turning his back 
on Italy and its delights, he started at once homeward. At 
Lyons he found another courier, with a letter telling him of 
the King's total loss of reason. He pressed on with all speed, 
leaving his own chariot for the ordinary post carriage so as to 
gain time, and finally reached London on November 24, having 
been nine days on the journey, a surprising feat considering 
the conditions of the roads, and the means of travel in those 
days. But the great exertion and the fatigues of the journey 
had told heavily on his health, and it was some time before he 
recovered from it. 

Fox arrived in London just in time. Parliament, convened 
for November 20 (1788), had been prorogued until December 4, 
and this gave breathing time. Fox at once impressed upon the 
Prince the necessity of a reconciliation with the Duke of Port- 
land, who had refused to help in the matter of the Prince's 



1 64 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

debts. The Prince behaved very handsomely. "Pray shake 
the Duke of Portland by the hand for me," he said, "and tell 
him that I hope everything that is past may be forgot between 
us." With the exception of the hasty visit to Bagshot, and an 
occasional escape to Carlton House, the Prince had all this 
time been detained at Windsor, where he fretted at the con- 
finement. Meanwhile Pitt and the other Ministers had been 
down to Windsor, and had seen the King, but the Prince 
refused to see them. Soon after the Ministers' visit the 
King was removed to Kew, and placed by Pitt under the 
care of an ex-clergyman named Willis, who was a special- 
ist in lunacy, and with his son had made some remarkable 
cures. 

On the eve of the opening of Parliament, December 4, a 
Cabinet Council was held at Pitt's house, and as soon as it 
rose, a messenger was despatched to Kew with a letter for the 
Queen. Its purport was soon known to the Prince of Wales, 
and confirmed his suspicions that Pitt and the Queen were in 
league against him. The Queen wrote to her eldest son a 
letter to sound him, saying that she had been asked to take a 
share in the Regency, but that she thought it better to take no 
part in politics, but devote herself solely to the King in his sad 
condition. The Prince warily replied, that "her Majesty 
might assure herself that she should be considered as his 
Majesty's sole guardian, so long as the unhappy malady should 
continue." On the surface nothing could be more proper than 
these letters, but in the light of subsequent events one may 
read between the lines, and see in them the beginning of the 
long and unedifying struggle between mother and son. 

Parhament reassembled on December 4, and it at once 
became apparent that the object of Pitt was to gain time. 
The report of the physicians was laid before the House. It 
was very vague, but with one exception (Warren) the doctors 
inclined to the hope that the King might recover. The House 
was adjourned, and when it met again Pitt proposed a com- 
mittee to examine into the precedents. This step was violently 
opposed by Fox, who declared that as the heir-apparent was 
of full age and capacity, he had the right to exercise the govern- 
ing power, so long as the King remained in his present state, 
just as though the King were dead, and the Prince of Wales 



STRUGGLE FOR THE REGENCY 165 

had ascended the throne. This was a tactical bhmder, for it 
paved the way to endless discussion. Pitt immediately pounced 
on Fox's use of the word " right," and declared it to be a treason- 
able doctrine (it was certainly a most un-Whiggish one). The 
Prince had a "claim," he admitted, but no more right than 
any other member of the community. On this point followed 
impassioned debates. Burke denounced Pitt as "one of the 
Prince's competitors" for the Regency, and Pitt replied in a 
"damned passion." Outside the wildest canards flew about, 
and party feeling ran to its highest pitch. There were rumours 
of a "Council of Regency," over which, said the Whigs, Pitt 
would preside, "reigning as King Wilham IV." 

After a few days Pitt affected to make a concession. He 
admitted that the Prince was the most suitable person to be 
vested with the Regency, subject to certain restrictions. These 
restrictions, even before they were formulated, were denounced 
by Fox as an attempt to make the Prince refuse the Regency 
altogether, by imposing humiliating conditions. Pitt retorted 
that as the question of "right" had been revived it was necessary 
to inquire thoroughly into the matter; he appointed a committee, 
and thus gained another two weeks' delay. As the great Min- 
ister knew, time was all important. Willis, his nominee at Kew, 
had reported privately to him that the King's condition was 
more favourable, and that there was a prospect that he would 
before long recover his reason. The Prince, not wishing to be 
out-generalled, and seeing that the theory of his "right" was 
being used to play into his enemies' hands, threw over Fox, and 
despatched the Duke of York to the House of Lords to disclaim 
it. The Duke did so in an able speech, and he was supported 
by his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester; but these manoeuvres had 
no effect, for Pitt had already made up his mind on the course 
to pursue. On December 16 he introduced three resolutions 
on the subject of the Regency. In the fierce debates that 
followed, another three weeks of precious time were lost. In 
the end Pitt's resolutions were carried, and the Ministers set 
about preparing a Bill. It was understood that the Prince was 
to be offered the Regency, but with such restrictions as Pitt 
should be pleased to impose. 

The dissensions in the royal family now rivalled those in 
Parliament. The Queen was wholly on Pitt's side, and ranged 



1 66 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

herself in active opposition to the Prince of Wales, who was 
supported by his uncles and brothers. It was intimated that 
the Queen had reconsidered her decision, and was prepared to 
accept the Regency with Pitt's conditions, if the Prince of Wales 
refused to accept them. The Prince was hardly allowed to see 
his father by the Queen, and a bitter dispute arose about the 
custody of the King's papers and jewels. "She is playing the 
devil," wrote Sir Gilbert Elhot to his wife, "and has all this 
time been at the bottom of the cabals and intrigues against 
the Prince." The Princes resented their mother's attitude. 
The Prince said, "In this matter her Majesty showed a 
degree of passion which I have never witnessed or beheved 
to exist in her Majesty before;" while the Duke of York 
said to her, "I believe. Madam, you are as much de- 
ranged as the King." Their attitude was reflected by their 
friends, who spoke of the Queen with disrespect. For in- 
stance, we hear of a supper-party at Mrs. Robert Wal- 
pole's, at which were present the Prince of Wales, the Duke 
of York, Mrs. Fitzherbert, Jack Payne, and others, includ- 
ing, oddly enough the Duchess of Gordon, who was an ardent 
Pittite. Payne, who was in high favour with the Prince, made 
(no doubt, in his cups) some ribald allusion to the friend- 
ship between Pitt and the Queen, at which the Prince laughed 
boisterously; but the Duchess exclaimed, "You little, insig- 
nificant, good-for-nothing upstart, you pert, chattering puppy, 
how dare you name your royal master's royal mother in 
that style !"^ 

Behind all the disputes about the Regency, never mentioned 
in official documents or speeches, but lurking in all men's 
minds, was the question of the Prince's secret marriage to Mrs. 
Fitzherbert. Fox's denial was now generally discredited, and 
the country felt itself deceived. The old hatred of Popery 
existed in the provinces, and it was partly the fear of the Prince's 
"Papist wife," who had so great an ascendency over him, that 
inspired the great towns and country districts to pour addresses 
in upon Pitt at this juncture, assuring him of their support. 
These proofs of the feehng in the country encouraged the Prime 
Minister to hamper the Prince's power by every possible re- 

1 "Lady Harcourt's Diary." Locker MSS. in Massey's "History of Eng- 
land." 



STRUGGLE FOR THE REGENCY 167 

striction, and not to make the slightest concession. The nation 
was at Pitt's back, and was profoundly convinced that the 
Prince was not fit to exercise the royal power except under 
stringent restrictions. What those restrictions were soon be- 
came apparent. Early in the New Year, 1789, the Prince was 
offered the Regency, but it was shorn of most of the privileges 
of sovereignty. The care of the King's person, with the man- 
agement of the Royal Household, and the appointment of all 
officers and servants therein, were given to the Queen. The 
Prince, as Regent, was to have no power to touch the property 
of the King — that is. Crown property ; no power to grant 
offices or pensions connected therewith, and no power to create 
peers. Well might the Prince write that these were "restrictions 
such as no dictator could ever have been bare-faced enough to 
bring forward." But he did not refuse the Regency, even with 
these humihating conditions, for he knew that the Queen would 
take the office if he did not. When therefore the deputation 
of both Houses of Parliament waited on him at Carlton House, 
he said he would accept the Regency, "confident that the 
limitations on the exercise of the Royal authority deemed 
necessary for the present have been approved only by the two 
Houses as a temporary measure." 

Then the Regency Bill was introduced into the House of 
Commons, and the fierce quarrels began all over again. It fell 
to Burke to lead the Opposition, which he did in a series of 
impassioned speeches, declaring that the Bill was "not only 
degrading to the Prince but to the whole House of Brunswick." 
Fox was absent from these debates on the plea of ill health. 
There was another reason also. Though Fox was outwardly 
reconciled to the Prince, the old confidence between them was 
gone. Fox ascribed this to Mrs. Fitzherbert's influence, and 
resented it. The Prince considered that Fox had made a grave 
blunder in tactics when he put forward the claim of right on his 
behalf, and had much mismanaged the whole business in 
Parliament. But he dared not break with him, though it was 
even whispered that the Prince was wilHng to make overtures 
to Pitt. Lord Buckingham, writing in the autumn to William 
Grenville on the situation, repeats the rumour on good authority 
that " the Prince was afraid of Fox, and his opinion of Mr. Pitt 
was very much altered since the negotiation on the subject of 



i68 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

his debts, and that he was sure the Prince would in case of any 
accident send for them both, and endeavour to make his time 
quiet by employing them jointly, and that this coolness to Fox 
was much increased by Mrs. Fitzherbert, who never would 
forgive his pubhc declaration on her subject in the House of 
Commons, and had taken every opportunity of ahenating the 
Prince's mind from him." ^ 

Mrs. Fitzherbert was a factor who could not be ignored in 
the Prince's secret councils in the matter of the Regency. She 
took an active part in them, and she won over to her side the 
Duke of Portland. "The Duke" (of Portland), writes George 
Selwyn to Lady Carlisle, "now sups every night with his 
Royal Highness and his brother at Mrs. Fitzherbert's." ^ To 
these little suppers Fox was not invited. Indeed, he found 
himself now shut out from the Prince's confidence. If the 
Prince became Regent, this confidence was absolutely necessary 
to Fox if he were to form a Government. In this dilemma it 
is no wonder he sought, by every means in his power, to make 
his peace with Mrs. Fitzherbert. But she still maintained her 
hostile attitude. She refused to see him or to speak to him. 
Sir Philip Francis tells us that she "abhorred Fox, and never 
would be reconciled to him, notwithstanding many advances 
and earnest submissions on his part, of which at his request 
I was more than once a bearer," The quarrel between Mrs. 
Fitzherbert and Fox was well known, and the most extraordi- 
nary rumours flew about concerning the terms he offered her 
to effect a reconciliation. Lord Harcourt writes to Lady Har- 
court : — 

"The first news I heard in my morning walk was that 
Mrs. Fitzherbert is to be created a Duchess. This cannot be 
true; for how can the Regent make a Peeress, when he is re- 
stricted from making any Peers. It appears to me to be an 
absolute impossibility. Mr. Fox will probably now again come 
forward on the stage, but he cannot ever be a favourite 
after what has passed. After resisting every effort that has 
been made use of to induce him to give up the letter which 
authorised him to make the famous declaration he made in 
Parhament two years ago, he says he has lost it. This is 

1 Fortescue MSS. Historical MSS. Commission, vol. i. 

2 Carlisle MSS. Historical MSS. Commission, vol. iii. 



STRUGGLE FOR THE REGENCY 169 

not very likely, considering what a very important one it 
was." ^ 

Again the Morning Herald writes, December 15, 1788: — 

"A very extraordinary circumstance has recently occurred, 
which win probably be the means of delaying for some time the 
final and complete arrangement of the intended blue and buff 
administration (the colours of Fox). The impediment origi- 
nated with Mr. Fox; and were there not more of popular artifice 
than principle in it, it would be more honourable to his character 
than perhaps any part of his conduct that had before attracted 
public notice. 

"The memorable declaration of Mr, Fox, in the House of 
Commons, on the subject of a marriage between a certain 
Great Character and a Lady well known in the higher circles, 
cannot but be fresh in the memory of almost every individual 
in the Kingdom. 

"That connexion, on account of the difference in religious 
principles, appears to Mr. Fox fraught with probable mischief 
to his measures; he has, therefore, declared his positive resolu- 
tion not to take any part in the intended new Ministry, until 
the exact Hmits of that connexion are satisfactorily defined, as 
he has now reason to beHeve that it is of a more coercive and 
permanent nature than he was once induced to imagine and 
announce. 

"To annul the grounds of Mr. Fox's objection, no less a 
sum than the annual allowance of ;^2o,ooo has been offered to 
the lady, on condition of her retiring to the Continent. This 
the lady has positively refused; expressing her firm determina- 
tion to abide by an authority she is said to hold forth as un- 
answerable and unalienable. 

"A Character (the Duke of York), who has lately started 
forth into oratorical consequence, is the negotiator in this im- 
portant business, who, finding the lady obstinate, has offered, 
in addition to the enormous income above mentioned, the rank 
of an English Duchess! 

1 "Harcourt Papers." The letter was not lost. It must have been the letter 
which the Prince of Wales wrote in answer to Fox, December ii, 1785, before 
his marriage to Mrs. Fitzherbert. It was found among Fox's papers after his 
death, tied up with his letter to the Prince on the subject. Probably Fox did 
not think it sufficiently strong to justify his categorical statement in the House 
of Commons; perhaps he did not care to betray the Prince's confidence. 



170 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

"The lady, however, firmly resists all these alluring tempta- 
tions, urging that she was in circumstances entirely independent 
previously to her being induced to coincide with that condition 
from which she is resolute not to recede, as character is of 
much greater importance to her than affluence, however abun- 
dant, if attended with the deprivation of that rank to which 
she holds herself entitled. ^^ 

This article in the Morning Herald, which created a sensa- 
tion at the moment, was, no doubt, ill-informed and exaggerated. 
It probably arose from something that Mrs. Fitzherbert had 
said about Fox, for she made no attempt to conceal her antip- 
athy, and freely and often expressed it. Fox would have 
liked to break off the connection between the Prince and Mrs. 
Fitzherbert altogether, but he recognised that such an attempt 
at this juncture was foredoomed to failure, and did not attempt 
it. The statement, therefore, that he offered her ;^2o,ooq a 
year to go into exile in the event of the Prince becoming Regent 
and he Prime Minister, may be dismissed as absurd. Fox 
knew her too well to make such an offer, but he recognised the 
extent of her influence over the Prince, and perhaps he felt 
that he owed her some reparation for the wrong he had done 
her, in part, unconsciously; but whether he had believed what 
he said in the House of Commons or not, there was no need for 
him to have used such coarse terms. The statement that he 
offered her the rank of a duchess in the event of his forming a 
Government is in part borne out by Lord Stourton, who in his 
loosely- worded narrative writes, " She went so far with respect to 
Mr. Fox that when afterwards, during his Administration,^ he 
made some overtures to recover her good will, she refused, though 
the attainment of the rank of Duchess was to be the fruit of 
their reconciliation. In naming this circumstance to me she ob- 
served that she did not wish to be another Duchess of Kendal." 

This observation of Mrs. Fitzherbert throws a hght on her 
refusal to be created a Duchess then, and also many years later, 
when a similar offer was made her by William IV. The 
Duchess of Kendal was the acknowledged mistress of George I., 
and it was because she was his mistress that she was elevated 

1 This must either mean Fox's contemplated Administration in 1789, in the 
event of the Prince of Wales becoming Regent — which came to nothing — or 
when he became Foreign Secretary in Lord Grenville's Administration in 1806. 





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STRUGGLE FOR THE REGENCY 



171 



to the rank of a duchess. There was no question of marriage 
between them. The German Pastor of the Lutheran Chapel 
Royal refused her the Sacrament because, in his view, she was 
living "in open sin." Mrs. Fitzherbert, on the contrary, had 
been married to the Prince, and her Church regarded her as 
his wife. She was admitted to the Sacraments of her Church, 
which would not have been the case had she been his mistress. 
Her marriage, not merely the legality of it (she never claimed 
that it was legal), but the fact in toto, had been denied by Fox 
with gross comments, she had been pubhcly shamed, and she 
held that the stain could not be wiped away short of an equally 
public apology and recantation. But when Fox (conditionally, of 
course) offered her, instead, the rank of duchess, she spurned it. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert preferred to trust to the Prince, who had 
sworn to make her all possible amends for the public denial of 
their marriage the moment he had the power. It looked now, 
with the Regency almost within his grasp, that the power would 
come. But distrusting Fox as she did, Mrs. Fitzherbert was 
profoundly agitated by these rumours in the press and else- 
where. She feared that they masked some secret design against 
her. She sought the Prince and demanded an explanation. 
The Prince freely denied all knowledge of them, renewed his 
vows and entreaties, and succeeded in pacifying her, as he had 
often done before. But with Fox she would hold no sort of 
communication ; and he, sick in mind and body, smarting under 
the chagrin and disappointment caused by his own tactical 
blunder in the House, Mrs. Fitzherbert's rebuff and the Prince's 
coldness, went down to the country, and on the plea of illness 
absented himself from the House of Commons during the 
remaining debates on the Regency Bill. He was ill, undoubt- 
edly, but that was not the only reason of his continued absence. 
Jealousies were rife among the Prince's friends. Sheridan stood 
high in the Prince's favour and in that of Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
"Charles Fox," writes one, "besides ill-health, is plagued to 
death all day long, dissatisfied with Sheridan's supremacy, and 
not choosing to be questioned by Mr. Rolle, who vows he will, 
in spite of threats and opposition, appro fondir that matter" 
[i.e., the marriage of Mrs. Fitzherbert].^ 

1 "Courts and Cabinets of George III." By the Duke of Buckingham, 1853 



[72 



MRS. FITZHERBERT 



The irrepressible RoUe, who had never beheved Fox's denial 
at the time, and who was now convinced by the growing power 
and influence of Mrs. Fitzherbert, and the confident assertions 
of her friends, that he had been tricked, was determined' to get 
to the truth. He had announced that he would raise the ques- 
tion again during the debates on the Regency Bill, and he 
intended to address his questions to Fox himself. This Fox 
was determined he should not do, and so he stayed away from 
the House altogether. 

The Prince's party were in a great fright at the prospect of 
his marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert being raised at such an 
inconvenient time, and did all in their power to discount it in 
advance. Lord Harcourt writes to Lady Harcourt: ^ "I find it 
is a measure of the party to say that the Prince, from his amiable 
character, retains a friendship for Mrs. Fitzherbert; but that 
she has not the least remaining influence; that he is quite tired 
of her, and in love elsewhere, therefore the public need have no 
further alarm on her account." And again: "The report of 
H.R.H. being tired of Mrs. Fitzherbert gains ground. The old 
Duchess of Bedford said at a party she had the other day, that 
she knew he could not stand the unpopularity occasioned by 
his connection with a Catholic, and that he entreated her to go 
to France or anywhere abroad and he would give her ;^io,ooo 
per annum. She, however, refused, saying she would take her 
chance in England. ... I doubt the truth of this story." 

These manoeuvres were unsuccessful in averting a discussion 
in Parliament.^ Rolle's opportunity came on February 7, 1789. 
The Regency Bill was in Committee, and was being discussed 
in a full House. Presently the House came to the following 
clause : — 

"Provided also, and be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, 
that if his said Royal Highness George Augustus Frederick, 
Prince of Wales, shall not continue to be resident in Great 
Britain, or shall at any time marry a Papist; then, and in every 
case, all the powers and authorities vested in his said Royal 
Highness, by virtue of the Act, shall cease and determine." 

To this RoUe moved an amendment, to insert after the 
words or shall at any time marry a Papist the following : or shall 

1 "Harcourt Papers." 

2 Parliamentary History, vol. xxvii. Debate on the Regency Bill, 1789. 



STRUGGLE FOR THE REGENCY 173 

at any time he proved to he married, in fact, or in law, to a 
Papist. 

In introducing his amendment Mr. Rolle said: "That he 
meant nothing personal or disrespectful, nothing injurious or 
hateful to the feelings of any individual. He spoke from the 
regard he had to the principles of the Constitution which were 
the bulwarks of our freedom, and out of veneration for the 
House of Brunswick, and the wish to secure the Protestant 
succession in that House, because that succession would secure 
our liberties. . . . Could he have brought himself to believe 
that, as the clause stood at present, it was sufficiently strong, 
he would not have proposed the amendment; or if any person 
would step forward and confirm the declaration solemnly made 
by a right honourable gentleman (Mr. Fox) in that House two 
years ago, he should be satisfied. That declaration had satisfied 
him at the time, nor did he mean to impeach its credibility, but 
as doubts and scruples had nevertheless been still entertained 
without doors, he wished them to be effectually silenced, and 
that the question might be set at rest for ever." 

Lord Belgrave, who followed, blamed Rolle for casting 
doubts on Fox's declaration that there was no truth in the report 
that ".an indissoluble union had taken place with a very amiable 
and respectable Character, whose religious opinions differed 
from the religious opinions of the Established Church of this 
country." He contended that there was no occasion to discuss 
the validity of such a rumour over again. 

Mr. Pitt, on behalf of the Government, said that he could 
not accept the amendment, as the Uniformity Clause was the 
same as he had found in former Regency Bills, and he judged 
it sufficient security. He did not wish to advert to anything 
that had formerly passed in the House. 

The Attorney -General also considered the clause, as it stood, 
a sufficient legal security: it had sufficed for our ancestors. 
The House could not legislate on rumours, and "with regard 
to the particular rumour in question he knew of nothing that 
could warrant him to believe it to have any foundation." 

For the inform.ation of the Committee the clause of the 
Royal Marriage Act (12 George HI.) was read. The Clause 
provides that, previous to the marriage of the descendants of 
George 11. taking place lawfully. His Majesty's (George III.'s) 



174 



MRS. FITZHERBERT 



consent to such a marriage must be obtained, and signified 
under his own sign manual, which consent must have the sanc- 
tion of the Great Seal, and that all marriages contracted without 
the Royal consent being so formally signified, were declared to 
be null and void, and of no effect whatever. 

Mr. Rolle said he had heard it to be the opinion of some of 
the first lawyers of this country that nothing contained in the 
Act just referred to altered or affected the clause in the Act of 
William and Mary which enacted that any heir to the Crown 
who married a Papist forfeited his right to the Crown. 

It was now the turn of "the Prince's friends." Lord North 
said that by perusing the Act which had just been read (the 
Royal Marriage Act) it would appear that no marriage could 
be contracted of the kind, respecting which they appeared to 
have such wonderful apprehensions, and therefore no danger 
could arise to Church and State in the manner dreaded. . . . 
The Act was in full force, and so it would remain unless regu- 
larly repealed by some subsequent statute. He questioned the 
motives of Mr. Rolle in agitating this question, which "could 
answer no wholesome purpose whatsoever." 

This brought up Mr. Pitt, who severely rebuked Lord North 
for questioning the motives of his hon. friend Mr. Rolle, and 
"for the levity with which he treated so serious a subject." 
At the same time he repeated that he considered the amendment 
unnecessary. 

Lord North would not accept the reprimand, and he declared 
that " the blame rested on Mr. Rolle for advancing the dangerous 
doctrine of questioning the validity of an Act of Parliament 
regularly passed under all its forms by the three branches of 
the legislature." 

Mr. Sheridan also assailed the motives of Mr. Rolle in 
continuing to agitate this question. "The hon. gentleman says 
he has his doubts, he does not state why. He has had Acts 
of Parliament consulted tending darkly to sustain those doubts. 
What motive can he have but to give suspicion wing and dis- 
seminate alarm? Who has said anything in favour of those 
doubts ? It is true a pamphlet ^ has been written by an ingen- 

1 The allusion was to Home Tooke's pamphlet, already quoted: "A Letter 
to a Friend on the Reported Marriage of His Royal Highness the Prince of 
Wales." 



STRUGGLE FOR THE REGENCY 175 

ious gentleman (Mr. Home Tooke), the madness and folly of 
which are apparent on every page, and the whole drift of which 
betrays the author to be a bad citizen, because when he roundly 
asserts that he seriously beHeves the fact he alludes to, to have 
taken place, and then resorts to no means of elucidating it, he 
insinuates what he ought not to have insinuated, without pro- 
ceeding to establish it by something at least that bore the 
resemblance of truth." 

Mr. Grey said that the only merited answer to the hon. 
gentleman (Mr. Rolle) was the short answer of the iVct of 
Parliament which had been read. Whether the hon. gentle- 
man's motives were good or bad, he should leave others to 
determine; but he did suspect they were not good, because they 
tended to involve the country in disunion, alarm, and distrust. 
He reprobated the rumours alluded to as false, libellous, and 
calumniatory,^ tending to create in the minds of the public, at 
a most critical moment, suspicions equally derogatory to the 
Prince of Wales and dangerous to the general welfare of the 
pubhc. 

Mr. Dundas ^ (Treasurer of the Navy) said: "When he heard 
that a recent Act of Parliament was the only reply fit to be 
given to questions of the deepest importance, he could not 
admit that a matter of such magnitude should rest on such a 
point, nor would he agree that the effect of the Act of Set- 
tlement was virtually done away by a posterior Act, which 
did not specifically repeat the clause in a Statute, in which 
the constitution and the country were so deeply interested, 
as the Act of William and Mary. As little was he wilhng 
to submit that the rumour alluded to was a question rather 
to be laughed at than argued. So to say was surely paying a 
bad compliment to the Prince of Wales, and resting his cause 
on a weak and loose foundation. He was ready to say that 
he disbelieved the rumour for other and he conceived better 



1 Grey in private life was a man of high honour, yet he must have known 
that he was deliberately uttering a falsehood, for by his own statement he was 
one of those to whom the Prince had admitted the fact of his marriage, when 
he wished that Fox's denial should be softened in the House of Commons. 
Grey had refused to do this, and Sheridan had undertaken it; but that does 
not excuse Grey's conduct on this occasion in deliberately misleading the 
House of Commons. 

2 Henry Dundas, first Viscount Melville (1742-1811). 



176 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

reasons.^ He lamented a thousand, and a thousand, times the 
absence of the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Fox) who had made 
that declaration two sessions ago which had decided his (Mr. 
Dundas's) opinion at the time, and had since continued to pre- 
serve it fixed and unmoved; more especially did he regret the 
cause of his absence (illness). He wished for the right hon. gen- 
tleman's presence because he entertained so high an opinion of 
his sincerity that he was confident he would have come down to 
the House at the risk of his life to have stated his sentiments on 
the motion of the hon. gentleman (Mr. Rolle) if any point had 
occurred to have induced him to alter the opinion he had enter- 
tained, when the subject had been brought under discussion on a 
former occasion. On that opinion, solemnly delivered as it had 
been in that House, he perfectly relied, and therefore he was 
ready to say he did not give the smallest credit to the rumour 
which had been so often referred to in the course of debate. 
The hon. gentleman on the other side (Mr. Grey) seemed anxious 
to provoke a discussion on the whole subject; he for one should 
feel no delicacy in the world, but for a single consideration, and 
that was because two Persons must necessarily be made the 
objects of the discussion. With regard to one of the high and 
respectable Personages alluded to (the Prince of Wales) he 
certainly should feel but little difficulty, although no man felt 
more respect for that Exalted Personage than himself; but with 
regard to the other amiable Character (Mrs. Fitzherbert) he 
confessed that when the Sex came into question in that House, 
he knew not how to agitate a subject of such delicacy. He 
therefore wished, at all times, to shut the door upon such dis- 
cussions." Mr. Dundas then rebuked Mr. Grey for impugning 
the motives of Mr. Rolle, "and concluded by hinting to Mr. 
Grey that it would have shown more prudence, and have better 
served the cause on the behalf of which he had exercised his 
zeal, if he had restrained that zeal, and taken no part in the 
debate of the day." 

This taunt brought up Grey again, who said, "That so far 
from feehng regret for the manner in which he had delivered his 
sentiments, he was happy at having dehvered his opinion, since 

1 Dundas's speech was really an elaborate sarcasm: he wished to fix the 
responsibiHty for the denial of the marriage on Fox and the Prince's friends, 
and he knew perfectly well that Fox wished to avoid Rolle. 



STRUGGLE FOR THE REGENCY 177 

it had drawn from the two right hon. gentlemen (Mr. Pitt and 
Mr. Dundas) express declarations that they neither of them 
beheved the reports so often alluded to in the course of the 
debate. He repeated his reprobation of those reports as false, 
libellous, and calumnious." With reference to the absence of 
Mr. Fox, he assured the Committee "that it was due to the 
character of his right hon. friend to declare that no consideration 
of health, or any other circumstance, would have prevented 
his attendance in his place if he had not, at the moment, been 
fully satisfied that what, he had asserted on a former occasion 
was strictly true. Had the case been otherwire, his right hon. 
friend would have been present even at the risk of his life" 

The amendment was then negatived, without a division, 
and the House proceeded to debate the clause which restrained 
the Prince Regent from creating peers. 

Thus for the second time was Mrs. Fitzherbert's marriage 
publicly denied in Parliament, and on this occasion by men 
like Grey and Sheridan, who, if they did not know the full facts 
of the case, knew for certain that a ceremony of marriage had 
taken place. Well might the unhappy woman exclaim, "Save 
me from my friends!" She was doubly forsworn. 

It is unnecessary to follow the debates on the Regency Bill. 
They continued to be marked by the greatest passion and 
prejudice on both sides. Burke, who led the opposition, excelled 
himself in invective. Fox sulked in retirement. The excite- 
ment was equally great outside the walls of Parliament. The 
fashionable world of London was divided into two hostile 
factions. The Duchess of Devonshire gave parties on the 
Whig side, and the 'Duchess of Gordon on the Tory; the ladies 
being even more excited than the men. At balls and parties 
given by the Prince's friends, the ladies appeared wearing "Re- 
gency caps," while at the Tory houses the ladies adorned them- 
selves with ribbons inscribed, "God save the King." These 
were wound round their arms or entwined in their hair. Mrs. 
Fitzherbert threw herself into the fray con amore, and worked 
early and late for the Prince. Her house was used as a meeting- 
place for his friends; she encouraged the wavering and cajoled 
the doubtful. Her future destiny at this time was an object of 
general curiosity. In the event of the Regency what would 
she become? There seemed no Kmit to her possibihties, and 



178 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

she was generally regarded as the leader of the family struggle 
on the one side, and the Queen the leader on the other. The 
struggle for the Regency is the only instance of Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
direct interference in pohtics, though this was a personal matter 
rather than a political one with her. There' were those who 
held that her advocacy did more harm than good. 

Among the Prince's own followers the near prospect of 
place' and power had a demoraHsing effect. There were many 
jealousies and intrigues. The Prince entertained his friends 
sumptuously every day, and was lavish in his promises. His 
uncle the Duke of Cumberland was promised the Garter, until 
now refused him by the King; his brother the Duke of York 
was to become Commander-in-Chief, Fox was to be Prime 
Minister, Sheridan Treasurer for the Navy, and so on. All 
the smaller fry of place-hunters and parasites, such as Jack 
Payne, were to be provided for in some way or other. This 
hungry crew was keenly affected by the restriction which gave 
to the Queen the household appointments, for no less than one 
hundred and fifty places were thus lost to them. But this 
restriction was regarded as only temporary. 

Thus did the Prince and his friends occupy themselves until 
the middle of February 1789. It was hoped that the Prince 
would be in possession of the Regency by the 14th February. 
Alas for the mutabihty of human hopes ! Just at the moment, 
when power and place seemed at last within their grasp, rumours 
came that the King was recovering his reason. These rumours 
gained in strength day by day. On the 19th February, when 
the Regency Bill was under discussion in the Lords, the Lord 
Chancellor stood up and said it would be "indecent," in the 
improved state of the King's health, to proceed further with the 
measure, and the House adjourned for a week. By that time 
the King was so much better that the bulletins were discon- 
tinued. On February 27, the Prince received an address from 
the Irish Parliament, who prayed him to take the Regency of 
Ireland without any restrictions. Though bitterness and dis- 
appointment must have been in his heart, the Prince received 
the deputation with great aplomb, and entertained them after 
at a magnificent banquet, and in his speech spoke of "the 
happy event of the King's recovery." 

On the very day the Regency Bill was to have been passed 



STRUGGLE FOR THE REGENCY 179 

into law the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York were sum- 
moned down to Kew, and had the fehcity of being received by 
the King, and allowed to offer him congratulations on his 
recovery. The King now grew better daily, and on April 23, 
his recovery being considered complete, he attended St. Paul's 
in state, accompanied by all his family, and returned thanks to 
Almighty God for the mercies vouchsafed to him. 

Thus vanished the Prince's hopes of the Regency; thus 
went also Mrs. Fitzherbert's dream of a public reparation, for 
when the Regency question was revived twenty years later, her 
position with regard to the Prince of Wales was altogether 
different. Pubhc feehng found expression in the inevitable 
cartoons. On April 29 appeared one entitled, "The Funeral 
Procession of Miss Regency. " On the coffin rest a Prince's 
coronet, a dice-box, and an empty purse. Mrs. Fitzherbert 
acts as Chief Mourner, overcome with grief at the loss of her 
prospects. Fox and Sheridan follow, and several members of 
the Prince's household act as mutes, including Weltje, who 
sings — , . , 

"Vor by Got ve do pine, and in sadness ve tink. 
Dat it's long till de Prince vear de Crown." 



CHAPTER XIV 

FAMILY QUARRELS 

(1789-1791) 

The quarrel between Queen Charlotte and the Prince of 
Wales did not end with the King's recovery; it was prolonged 
for more than a year. In this family dispute the Queen does 
not appear in an amiable light. She inflamed the King's mind 
against the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York, with stories 
of their misconduct during the struggle for the Regency. She 
put' the worst construction on their actions and motives, and 
did all in her power to prevent them from having free access 
to their father. Scenes were frequent between the Queen and 
her sons. "The Prince of Wales," writes Sir George Elhot 
soon after the King's recovery, "has had a smart tussle with 
the Queen, in which they came to strong and open declarations 
of hostility. He told her that she had connected herself with 
his enemies, and had entered into plans for destroying and 
disgracing him and all her children, and that she had counte- 
nanced misrepresentations of his conduct to the King and 
prevented the explanations which he wished to give. She was 
violent and lost her temper." ^ 

A fete to celebrate the King's recovery was given at Windsor, 
and by the Queen's arrangement it was converted into a party 
demonstration. All the ladies of the Court wore Garter blue, 
the Tory colour, and political allusions were frequent in the 
musical part of the programme; even the sweetmeats at supper 
were adorned with pohtical mottoes and devices. 

The Prince of Wales and his brothers were present, not 
choosing to be absent, though the Queen had given them a 
strong hint to keep away. She told the Duke of York before- 
hand that the party was given only for the "Ministers and those 

* "Sir G. Elliot's Life and Letters." 
180 




p 




FAMILY QUARRELS i8i 

persons in Parliament who have voted for the King and me." 
The King was courteous to his sons, but the Queen was very 
''sour and glum" because the King spoke to them at all. The 
Princes seem to have vented their ill-humour on the unoffending 
Princesses, their sisters, so altogether it cannot have been a 
pleasant party. 

The dispute between the Queen and her sons went from 
bad to worse, until at last it culminated in a duel fought between 
the representatives of the contending factions; the Duke of 
York representing the Prince of Wales's side, and Colonel 
Lenox figuring as the champion of the Queen and the Court. 
Lenox's mother held a place in the Queen's household, and he 
himself was in high favour with Her Majesty. He had gone 
about everywhere publicly abusing the Prince of Wales and the 
Duke of York. Of course his remarks were repeated to the 
royal brothers, and they resented them, for they knew by whom 
they were inspired. A quarrel was picked on some trifling 
pretext, and Lenox sent a challenge to the Duke of York, who 
accepted it. The duel was fought on Wimbledon Common; 
Lenox's second was a lord of the King's bedchamber. Lenox 
fired and the ball grazed the Duke's ear; the Duke did not fire, 
and as he refused to do so the duel came to an ignominious end. 
The Prince of Wales went down to Windsor after the duel, 
determined to tell the King the whole affair, but the Queen 
took care that he should not see him alone. The King, who 
had heard nothing about the duel, was greatly agitated at the 
danger to which his favourite son had been exposed, but the 
Queen, who was present all the time, heard the Prince's story 
unmoved, and her only comment at the end, was to say that it 
was "all the Duke of York's own fault." When, a few days 
later, the Duke came to see his father, she made not the slightest 
allusion to the duel. Her sympathies were, of course, with her 
self-constituted champion; a few weeks later she marked this 
publicly at the King's birthday ball at St. James's. Colonel 
Lenox was invited at the Queen's instance, and danced in the 
same country dance as the royal brothers. The Prince of 
Wales, when he saw him, stopped dancing abruptly, and led 
his partner out of the dance. The Queen asked the Prince, 
"Was he tired?" and on his answering in the negative, she 
supposed he "thought it too hot." The Prince retorted angrily 



1 82 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

that "in such company it was impossible not to find it too hot." 
The Queen then, no doubt fearing a scene, gave the signal for 
retiring, and broke up the ball. 

The King was not present. He was still an invalid. Had 
he been in his usual health none of these scenes would have 
happened, but for many months after his so-called recovery, 
though pronounced to be sane by his physicians, he was weak 
and feeble, both in mind and body, and did everything under 
the influence, or the compulsion, of the Queen. The Queen 
guarded him jealously from any outside interference; she put 
herself at the head of a faction, and deliberately sought to place 
the Prince of Wales's conduct in the worst hght. Her motive 
was obvious; she knew, none better, the precarious state of 
the King's health. It was thought probable that he would 
have a relapse, and the Queen was determined not to make the 
same mistake she had made in the last crisis, in not at once 
securing all the power at her command. 

Her conduct was not allowed to pass without protest. The 
Prince of Wales addressed endless remonstrances to the King, 
excusing himself, and complaining bitterly of his mother. All 
these letters the King either ignored, or he replied through the 
Queen that he "proposed avoiding all discussions that may in 
their nature agitate him." The victory of the Queen was 
complete. 

All this had the worst possible effect on the Prince of Wales. 
The disappointment of the Regency had been a heavy blow to 
him, and followed as it was by the boycott of the Court, it drove 
him into a state, first of anger, and then of indifference. His 
father would not Hsten to him, his mother intrigued against him, 
whatever he did was wrong, and if he did nothing that was 
wrong also. Every shred of power was jealously kept from 
him, every opportunity of public usefulness was denied to him. 
The position of heir- apparent is always a difficult one; it was 
never more difficult than in the case of George, Prince of Wales. 
Nearly every legitimate outlet for his abilities was refused him, 
and he was driven back upon himself, and forced to dissipate 
his energies upon a barren round of pleasure. Of a naturally 
sanguine temperament, this attitude of distrust and hatred on 
the part of his parents chilled and depressed him. His was a 
nature which needed appreciation and encouragement. 



FAMILY QUARRELS 183 

It has been the fashion to represent the life of the Prince of 
Wales (afterwards George IV.), from his earliest years until his 
death, as one long round of self-indulgence and pleasure, with 
no attempt on his part of reformation, or of striving for higher 
things; yet of his early manhood, at least, this view is a false 
and malicious one. For four years, from the period of his 
marriage to Mrs. Fitzherbert until the disappointment of the 
Regency, the Prince had honestly striven to render himself 
worthier of the high position to which he was called. He had 
retrenched his expenditure, he had striven to pay his debts, he 
had reformed his manner of living, he drank less, gambled less. 
He was less wild in his conduct, less free in his conversation, 
and he had avoided the wildest of his companions. There were 
occasional lapses, but for four years he made great efforts to 
reform. That much of this was due to the good influence of 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, is of course true; much also was due to him- 
self, for his temptations were infinitely greater than those who 
. so readily condemn him can have any idea. It is probable that, 
had the Regency been given him at this period of his life, he 
might, with his undoubted abilities, have done something 
worthy of his name, but just when the power was within his 
grasp it was snatched from him. This disappointment, fol- 
lowed as it was by the triumph of his enemies and the hatred 
of the court, embittered and discouraged him. He was once 
more reduced to a condition of impotence, and driven back 
upon himself. Is it any wonder, under the circumstances, that 
a man of his inherited temperament should in disgust yield to 
the overwhelming temptations that surrounded him en every 
side? It was all so fatally easy. Mrs. Fitzherbert still tried 
her best to moderate his tendencies, but the satyr voices called 
so loudly to him, that even she pleaded to deaf ears. He was 
still devoted to her, but not enough to make him break' from 
his pleasures. Perhaps she too was discouraged and disap- 
pointed at the unexpected turn of events, and lost for the time 
something of her belief in herself, and in her power to lead the 
Prince. 

The summer of 1790 found the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert 
again at Brighton, which under the Prince's influence became 
transformed into a veritable city of pleasure. This year life at 
Brighton was merrier than ever. The Prince strove to forget 



i84 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

his disappointment; he let himself go, and was surrounded by 
all the wildest spirits among his friends. From morning till 
night nothing was thought of but pleasure, and pleasure of the 
most reckless kind. 

Among his chosen friends were the notorious Barrymore 
family, a merry, reckless crew. Of these the eldest was Richard 
Barry, seventh Lord Barrymore, who had not long come of age, 
and was in the enjoyment of ;;^2o,ooo a year, a fortune which 
he was rapidly dissipating. This young rake-hell was a boon 
companion of the Prince, and he was an extraordinary combi- 
nation of the most opposite qualities. "His Lordship," we are 
told, "alternated between a gentleman and a blackguard; the 
refined wit and the most vulgar bully, he was equally well 
known in St. Giles's or St. James's. He could fence, dance, 
drive, or drink, box or bet, with any man in the kingdom. 
He could discourse slang as trippingly as French, relish porter 
after port, and compliment her ladyship at a ball with as much 
ease and brilliance as he could bespatter blood in a cider 
cellar." ^ He was generous to prodigality, and always inde- 
pendent of prejudice; notwithstanding his wit he was so foul- 
mouthed that he gained the nickname of "Hellgate." He died 
in 1793, three years after the date of which we write, at the 
early age of twenty-four, and was succeeded by his brother, 
Henry Barry, who, being lame, was known as " Cripplegate." 
He, though as vicious as his brother, had neither his parts nor 
his bonhomie. To him belongs the honour of having invented 
the "Tiger" or smart juvenile groom. There was another 
brother, Augustus Barry, in holy orders of the Church of Ireland, 
a most inveterate gambler, always in debt and in danger of the 
sponging-house, who on this account was dubbed "Newgate." 
"Neither the Church nor the nobility derived much advantage 
from his being a member," says one of his contemporaries, and 
we can well believe it. He too was a combination of the polished 
gentleman and the perfect blackguard. To this worthy trio of 
brothers was added a sister (afterwards Lady Melfort) who 
from the shrewishness of her temper, and the violence of her 
language, was nicknamed "Bilhngsgate." The Barrymores, 
despite their vices and follies, were the most capital company. 

1 "Reminiscences of Henry Angelo." London, 1830. 



FAMILY QUARRELS 185 

They said whatever came into their mind, their wit was always 
ready, and their spirits never flagged. 

The merry recklessness of the Irish temperament had a great 
attraction for the Prince of Wales, and indeed bore a peculiar 
affinity to his own character. It must be remembered that he 
was still a young man, not yet thirty, full of spirits, and the 
charm of youth. Besides the Barrymores, Sheridan and Burke 
were Irishmen. So was Colonel George Hanger (afterwards 
Lord Coleraine), an eccentric character, who for years was the 
almost inseparable companion of the Prince of Wales. He 
had entered a Hessian regiment, and served in his corps through- 
out the war in America. When he came back to London he 
attached himself to the Prince, who had then just come upon 
the town, and was given an appointment as equerry. He 
figured in many of Gillray's cartoons; his eccentricity was 
marked in his fantastic dress and free manners, and it showed 
itself in later life, when he became Lord Coleraine, by refusing 
to acknowledge his title, and considering himself insulted if 
addressed by it. Like many of the Prince's friends he had a 
strain of abihty; he dabbled in literature, and was said to be 
the author of the ballad, "Kitty of Coleraine." We must 
also not forget Felix McCarthy, one of Lord Barrymore's 
gang of "bruisers" who followed him to Brighton. McCarthy 
was a handsomcj impecunious young Irishman of gentle birth, 
known as the "Irish Giant," a favourite with the Prince, who 
often helped him, for he was in chronic difficulties about money. 
To these must be added Mrs. Fitzherbert's brothers. Jack and 
Watt Smythe, who also had a strain of Irish blood in their 
veins. They were at this time constant companions of the 
Prince, and ready to do anything for him. These youths quite 
lost their heads in the company where they now found them- 
selves. They were wild, and always in want of money, yet it 
is characteristic of Mrs. Fitzherbert that she consistently refused 
to use her influence with the Prince to procure any place or 
sinecure for her brothers. She preferred to help them out of 
her own pocket, a privilege of which they liberally availed 
themselves. 

Most of these men could plead youth as an excuse for their 
excesses and extravagances, and their follies were redeemed by 
many good quahties. This cannot be said of all the Prince's 



1 86 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

friends, for some of them were wholly vicious. Among these 
was the Duke of Norfolk, "Jockey of Norfolk," a notorious 
drunkard and glutton, who often posted over from Arundel to 
Brighton, and stayed a few days, as the Prince's guest at the 
Pavilion. Another frequent visitor was the last Duke of 
Queensberry, familiarly known as "Old Q.," one of the wick- 
edest of wicked old men, who in his youth had been a member 
of the "Hell Fire Club," and in his old age cared for nothing 
in heaven or on earth. Of him it was written : — 

"And there, insatiate yet with folly's sport, 
That polished, sin-worn fragment of the Court, 
The shade of Queensb'ry should with Clermont meet 
Ogling and hobbling down St. James's Street." 

Another habitue was Sir John Lade, the celebrated Whip, 
who had taught the Prince driving, besides many other things 
that he ought not to have taught him. He was the king of the 
stables, and the familiar friend of grooms, jockeys, and touts. 
His wife was the Amazonain Letitia, who created a sensation 
by riding astride on horseback; she looked like Diana, and she 
drove a curricle and four with supreme skill, handling the reins 
even better than her husband. Her origin was of the lowest. 
Rumours said that she had lived in St. Giles's as the mistress 
of " Sixteen- String Jack," a highwayman who was hanged in 
1774. She then married Sir John Lade, who had a place in 
Sussex, and thus came to Brighton. The Prince, who loved 
horses and everything to do with them, found the Lades con- 
genial spirits. We must not forget to mention also the Duke 
of Orleans, who was often at Brighton during his frequent visits 
to England. He professed Liberal principles, and was known 
as Monsieur TEgahte, but he was really a man of no principles 
at all; his public morahty was on a par with his private conduct. 
He was a famihar figure on the Steine, and generally appeared 
in a bottle-green coat, which contrasted violently with his 
inflamed and scorbutic countenance. 

It was a gay summer at Brighton; the Prince kept his birth- 
day there with great festivities. Oxen were roasted whole, and 
the town was illuminated. No compliments passed between 
the King and his son on this occasion, though the Court was 
sojourning at Weymouth for the benefit of the King's health. 



FAMILY QUARRELS 187 

The Prince of Wales sent the Duke of York to see his father, 
but he would not go himself, or interrupt for one day his round 
of pleasure at Brighton. Many families of distinction had 
come to sojourn there, and lovely ladies of noble birth lent a 
grace to the Prince's parties. Among them was the witty and 
fascinating Lady Clare, an Irish lady who was a great friend 
of Mrs. Fitzherbert, and the stately though gay Mary Isabella, 
Duchess of Rutland, now a widow, and many more. 

The Prince went to Lewes Races this year in semi-state, and 
was received by the high sheriff of the county, attended by a 
company of javehn men. Mrs. Fitzherbert, the Duchess of 
Rutland, and Lady Lade, also drove to the races, each in a 
separate carriage, and each drawn by four grey ponies. Lady 
Lade, one would think, was hardly fit company for the other 
ladies, but the Prince's set was nothing if not "mixed." There 
were theatrical performances at the Old Theatre in Duke 
Street, one being given, "by desire of Mrs. Fitzherbert," by 
amateurs, "for the benefit of those persons who had failed in 
former attempts." The piece performed was the Tragedy of 
the Orphan. The audience was in shouts of laughter through- 
out the performance, and the Prince, we are told, laughed so 
much that he "nearly cracked his sides." 

Besides races and theatrical parties there were cricket 
matches in the Pavilion grounds, fencing matches, "pugilistic 
encounters," dinner parties at the Pavilion every night, and 
concerts and dances every week. Everything went as merry 
as a marriage bell, but the harmony was sometimes marred by 
quarrels among the Prince's friends, which not infrequently 
ended in a little blood-letting. Hard drinking and high play 
were responsible for many of these quarrels, and practical jokes 
for some of them. It was an age of practical jokes; the Prince 
delighted in them, and the Barrymore family were especially 
given to pranks of this kind. For instance, a favourite pastime 
of Lord Barrymore and his brothers was, as they were posting 
in their coach down the road from London to Brighton, to imitate 
the screams of a woman, and cry out ; "Murder, rape ! Unhand 
me, villain! Let me go!" &c. Chivalrous passers-by would 
sometimes start in pursuit of the coach and stop it by force, 
only to find that it contained no fair lady in distress, but instead 
Lord Barrymore and his musuclar "bruisers," who would jump 



i88 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

out and administer a sound thrashing to the would-be rescuers. 
The changing of signposts and the fighting of waggoners on 
the road were common incidents on these journeys. One sum- 
mer at Brighton, Lord Barrymore and his brothers after dark 
went about with a coffin. They called themselves "the Merry 
Mourners," and knocked at the doors of peaceable townsmen, 
frightening women and children. Nor were even the Prince 
and Mrs. Fitzherbert exempt from these practical jokes. On 
one occasion, Lord Barrymore's brother, "Cripplegate," rode 
a horse up the stairs of Mrs. Fitzherbert's house — right up to 
the garrets. But the horse could not be persuaded to go 
downstairs again, and had at last to be pulled down by main 
force by two blacksmiths. Henry Angelo, the fencing-master 
and actor, relates another anecdote: — "The year after I played 
'Mother Cole' at Brighton, I received an invitation from Lord 
Barrymore to his house, then upon the Steinc. One night, 
when the champagne prevented the evening finishing tranquilly, 
Lord Barrymore proposed, as there was a guitar in the house, 
that I should play on it. I was to be the musician, and he 
dressed in the cookmaid's clothes, and so to sing Machere Amie. 
Accordingly, taking me to another part of the Steine, under 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's window (it was then three o'clock), he sang, 
while I played the accompaniment. The next day he told me 
(quizzing, I should think) that the Prince said, 'Barrymore, 
you may make yourself a fool as much as you please; but if I 
had known it was Angelo I would have whipped him into the 
sea.'"^ 

In those days Mrs. Fitzherbert was merry too, but many of 
these wild doings were far from her liking. In vain would she 
plead for moderation. She found herself powerless to do much. 
The Prince, in the morning, when he was in a penitent mood, 
would promise her anything and everything, but in the evening 
the same revels would take place, and with the same results. 
Thomas Raikes writes in his "Journal": — 

"Few were the happy hours that she could number even at 
that period. He [the Prince] was young and impetuous and 
boisterous in his character, and very much addicted to the 
pleasures of the table. It was the fashion in those days to 

1 "Reminiscences of Henry Angelo." London, 1830. 



FAMILY QUARRELS 189 

drink very hard, and Mrs. Fitzherbert never retired to rest 
until her Royal spouse came home. But I have heard the late 
Duke of York say, that, often when she heard the Prince and 
his drunken companions on the staircase, she would seek a 
refuge from their presence even under the sofa when the Prince, 
finding the drawing-room deserted, would draw his sword in 
joke, and searching about the room would at last draw forth 
the trembHng victim from her place of concealment." ^ 

Apart from the Prince's extravagances, Mrs. Fitzherbert 
had troubles and anxieties of her own. Some of them she had 
brought upon herself. The way in which she had departed 
from her usual wise neutrality, and had thrown herself into the 
struggle for the Regency, had aroused feehngs of resentment 
against her both at court and in the Government. The vic- 
torious party determined to make her feel the weight of their 
displeasure. Nothing was done directly, but endless intrigues 
were set afoot to separate her from the Prince, and to frighten 
her into leaving the country. Rumours reached her that she 
would be prosecuted for violating the Royal Marriage Act, and 
the penalties of premunire would be directed against her. She 
was also threatened with imprisonment for debt, and this 
threat was nearly being put into force, for the Prince, through 
his gambhng habits, was again heavily embarrassed, and even 
in sore straits for ready money. Mrs. Fitzherbert shared his 
difficulties, for she had thrown her jointure into the common 
stock, and the Prince's allowance to her was irregularly paid. 
To do him justice the Prince always came to her aid, and 
raised the money somehow; but latterly, in some unaccountable 
way, his customary resources in time of need were closed to 
him. One morning in London, when he was at his wits' end 
for want of money, a bailiff arrived at Mrs. Fitzherbert's house 
in Pall Mall and served a writ on her for a debt of ;Ci835. 
The Prince of Wales was in the house at the time. The debt 
had not long been owing, but the writ was returnable on the 
morrow; therefore, if the money were not paid within a few 
hours, the lady would have to be conveyed to prison. The 
Prince lost not a moment in applying to his usual money- 
lenders; not one of them would help him. It was evidently a 

1 "Journal of Thomas Raikes." London, 1857. 



190 



MRS. FITZHERBERT 



trap. Mrs. Fitzherbert, whose house was already occupied by 
the sheriff's officers, sent, to a well-known pawnbroker, and 
tried to raise money on her plate and jewels, but here again 
there was a difficulty, for the bailiffs refused to let the articles 
go out of the house. At last the Prince sent for his own jewels 
from Carlton House, which were duly pledged, and with the 
money thus raised the debt was paid off, and Mrs. Fitzherbert 
was spared further indignity.^ The jewels were redeemed the 
following day, for the Prince meanwhile raised some money 
from a Jew in St. Mary Axe. 

Nor was this all. A section of the press was suborned against 
her, and simultaneously there appeared in many papers articles 
and paragraphs detrimental to her character, and teeming with 
abuse, evidently inspired by her enemies. As a rule Mrs. 
Fitzherbert always ignored these attacks, but one pamphlet in 
particular was so scurrilious, and so categorical in its statements, 
that proceedings were taken against the writer for libel, with 
the result that he was sentenced to pay a fine of ;^5o, a year's 
imprisonment in Newgate, and to give security for his good 
behaviour for five years. After this the attacks upon her ceased 
for a time. 

Thus matters went on for two years, 1 789-1 790; the court 
and the Prince of Wales being at open war, and much dirty 
linen was washed on both sides. This public quarrel between 
the heir-apparent and his royal parents could not be pro- 
longed without causing much scandal, and it threatened to 
bring the monarchy into disrepute. On all grounds it was to 
be deprecated. The well-wishers of the royal family therefore 
strove to bring about a reconciliation, but for a long time without 
success. Lord Thurlow, who was the trusted friend of both 
the King and the Prince of Wales, did everything in his power 
to heal the breach between them. Others were working too, 
notably the Princess Royal ^ and Mrs. Fitzherbert, each of 
whom, from her different standpoint, was unwearied in her 
endeavours to bring about a truce. Mrs. Fitzherbert's efforts 

1 The incident was not as bad as it sounds, for in those days the presence of 
baiUffs in the house was no unfrequent occurrence in the mansions of the great, 
and was often made the subject of a joke by those to whom they paid their 
unwelcome visits. 

2 Charlotte Augusta Matilda, eldest daughter of George III., Princess Royal 
(i 766-1828), afterwards married the King of Wurtemburg. 



FAMILY QUARRELS 191 

in this direction were magnanimous, for she had so far received 
no consideration from the King, while the Queen had shown 
herself decidedly hostile to her. In striving to bring about a 
reconciliation, therefore, she returned good for evil. She was 
even to some extent working against her own interests, for the 
King and Queen were anxious to break off her union with the 
Prince. But in the long run Mrs. Fitzherbert's unselfishness 
had its reward. Though to the self-centred it might seem that 
she was ruining her prospects, she was all unconsciously to 
herself advancing them. Her conduct on this, as on subsequent 
occasions, proved to the King and Queen that she was no 
self-seeker and no intriguer, and gradually their prejudices 
against her were broken down. 

The Prince of Wales was formally reconciled to the King 
in March 1791. The price demanded of him for the paternal 
forgiveness was that he should no longer identify himself wholly 
with the Whig party; he was henceforth to receive at his house 
Tories as well as Whigs. Perhaps, since the Regency had faded 
to a distant dream, it cost him little to make this sacrifice of his 
political friends. The price he hoped to obtain in return for 
his filial submission was the payment of his debts. But this 
was not much advanced thereby, for the King declared, now 
as always, that he would not consent to any increase of his 
son's income, until he married some Protestant princess from 
a German court — whom he alone considered to be a suitable 
bride for the Prince of Wales. However, these disputed ques- 
tions were not raised at the moment, and the Prince's submission 
to the King was followed by a reconciliation with the Queen. 
"A gentleman, who lives in the east end of St. James's Park," 
writes Horace Walpole, "has been sent for by a lady who has 
a large house in the west end, and they have kissed and made 
friends, which he notified by toasting her health in a bumper 
at the Club." ^ 

Some rays of the royal favour, albeit tempered by judicious 
distance, now began to fall upon Mrs. Fitzherbert. Her dis- 
interested efforts to make the Prince submit himself were known 
to the King and Queen and appreciated by them. They came 
to admire her character as a woman, to respect the purity of 

^ "Walpole's Letters," vol. ix. 



192 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

her life, to understand the honesty of her motives, and to admit 
that her influence over the Prince had never been used for her 
own advancement. The attitude of the King and Queen 
towards her seems to have changed about this time from dislike 
to benevolent reserve. They perhaps feared that any nearer 
recognition would be construed into an acknowledgment of her 
peculiar position, a position which, notwithstanding all facts, 
they consistently refused to accept. Yet all about the Court 
agreed there was no doubt whatever that the Prince of Wales 
had been through a form of marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
though the details were not fully known. The King and 
Queen accepted Fox's denial, and treated the story of the 
marriage as a fabrication, but the princes and princesses and 
the courtiers discussed it freely. Lady Harcourt,^ for instance, 
who was in the Queen's household, and enjoyed her favour and 
confidence to the fullest extent, writes in the year 1790 (the 
year when the quarrel between the Queen and her son was 
raging), of a conversation she had with the Duke of Gloucester 
of "the marriage between the Prince and Mrs. Fitz." Again 
she relates the following anecdote on the same subject: — "Pss. 
Royal told me the P. of Wales had won money of the D. of 
Bedford at Newmarket, and upon the Course as they were 
riding about he called out to the Duke, 'You know it don't 
signify what you owe to me, as your Brother-in-law.' Upon 
which the Duke of Orleans said, 'Qu'est que c'est que 5a que 
vous lui dites la ? ' ' Je I'appelle ' (said the Prince) ' mon beau- 
frere.' 'Qu'est que 9a veut dire; est-ce que la Fitzherbert a 
une soeur?' 'Non, non' (said the Prince), 'il est I'amant de 
ma soeur ainee, il en est folle.'" ^ 

By all the Royal Family, except the King and Queen, Mrs. 
Fitzherbert was tacitly accorded the position of morganatic 
wife. The royal dukes, notably the Dukes of York and Clar- 
ence, treated her en belle sosur, and with two or three of the 
princesses she was on terms of friendship. During part of the 
years 1790 and 1791, Mrs. Fitzherbert resided at her villa at 
Marble Hill, and here the Prince of Wales and the royal dukes 
were constant visitors. On the death of Lord North, the Duke 

1 Elizabeth, Countess of Harcourt, Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Char- 
lotte, wife of the E^rl of Harcourt, who was Master of the Horse to George III. 

2 "The Harcourt Papers." 



FAMILY QUARRELS 193 

of Clarence had bought Bushey Park, not far from Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, and he was living there with the beautiful and accom- 
pHshed actress, Mrs. Jordan, the mother of his many children. 
In the summer of 1791 the Countess of Albany, the widow of 
Prince Charles Edward Stuart, visited England.^ The Prince 
of Wales gave a dinner in her honour, and, as a matter of course, 
he introduced her to Mrs. Fitzherbert, whom she afterwards 
visited at Richmond. The meeting between these two distin- 
guished women must have been interesting, for though very 
different in circumstances and in breeding they had one link in 
common. Both of them were excluded from their rights be- 
cause they were Roman Catholics. 

This summer also, Mrs. Fitzherbert attended the grand 
masked fete given by Mrs. Hobart at her beautiful villa near 
Fulham, which was one of the events of the season. Mrs. 
Hobart (afterwards Countess of Berkshire) was a great friend 
of the Prince of Wales, and, hke many other women of fashion 
at that day, presided at a faro bank or gambling table. We 
quote the following account of her fete, as it affords a curious 
illustration of the manners of the time : — 

"The Hon. Mrs. Hoharfs Rural Breakfast and 
Promenade, June 28. 

"This long-looked-for, and long-prevented dejeuner was 
given yesterday in spite of the weather. It is almost needless 
to remark that all the first nobility and fashion about town 
graced this most delightful fete. The Prince of Wales came 
first, and precisely at one o'clock. About four or five hundred 
persons were present: amongst them was the Duke of Glouces- 
ter, the Duchesses of Rutland and Gordon, the Margravine of 
Anspach, Mrs. Fitzherbert, the Duke of Queensberry, several 
of the corps diplomatique, and many other foreigners of the 
very first distinction. The Duke of Clarence was expected, 
but did not attend. The breakfast lasted from two till past 
seven o'clock. 

"The leading person in this entertainment (which was 

1 Louisa, Countess of Albany (i 753-1824), by birth a Princess of Stolberg- 
Gedern. Married in 1772 Prince Charles Edward, and separated from him in 
1780. He died in 1788. 



194 " MRS. FITZHERBERT 

obliged to be confined to the house on account of the weather) 
was Mrs. Bristow, a near relative of Mrs. Hobart. This lady, 
who had long resided at the Indian Court of Lucknow, was 
every inch a queen. Draped in all the magnificence of Eastern 
grandeur, Mrs. Bristow represented the Queen of Nourjahad, 
as the "Light of the World" in the Garden of Roses. She was 
seated in the larger drawing-room, which was very beautifully 
fitted up with cushions in the Indian style, smoking her hookah, 
amidst all sorts of the choicest perfumes. Mrs. Bristow was 
very profuse with otto of roses, drops of which were thrown 
about the ladies' dresses. The whole house was scented with 
the most dehcious fragrance." ^ 

1 The European Magazine, July i79i» 



CHAPTER XV 

SUNSHINE AND SHADOW 
( I 791-1794) 

This year, 1791, the Duke of York's affairs came to a crisis. 
His carelessness about money matters, and his betting and 
gambhng habits, had involved him in hopeless embarrassment. 
Cash and credit were ahke exhausted, and his grievance against 
the King, namely that he had appropriated all the revenues of 
the see of Osnabriick during the Duke's minority, was past 
remedy, for the King refused to disburse. Nevertheless it was 
to his father that the Duke went in his trouble. He was the 
favourite son, and the King was willing to help him on one 
condition, namely that he should marry a German Princess of 
the Protestant faith. This condition the King pressed on all 
his sons, precedent to his granting any pecuniary relief — an 
odious one, it must be admitted, and one that proved in some 
cases unfortunate in its results. Yet in the case of the Duke 
of York the King no doubt honestly believed that a suitable 
marriage would be his salvation. He was also, since the 
Prince of Wales refused to be separated from Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
and several of his other sons had entered into irregular rela- 
tions, anxious to secure the succession to the throne in as nearly 
the direct line as possible. The King had a bride ready for 
his favourite son, the Princess Royal of Prussia, Frederica 
Charlotte Ulrica, eldest daughter of Frederick William 11. 
The Duke offered no objection. He was heart-whole, he had 
met the Princess when he was abroad, and did not dislike her. 
The alliance was therefore arranged without delay. The 
Prince of Wales was, of course, consulted in the m^atter by his 
devoted brother; he expressed himself well pleased, and raised 
no difficulties about the marriage treaty, but, says Sir Gilbert 
Elliot, "He has put in a saving clause for himself in case he 
chooses to marry, which he thinks probable, if he sees his 

195 



196 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

brother happy with his wife, and told the King tha , had he 
permitted him to go abroad at the time he asked leave to do so 
(in 1784), he meant to have looked out for a princess wiio would 
have suited him, as he was too domestic to bear the thoughts 
of marrying a woman he did not like." ^ This reads curiously 
when we remember the Prince's passionate declaration at that 
very time to Lord Malmesbury, "I will never marry!" But 
no doubt he deceived himself into thinking that he spoke the 
truth now as he spoke it then; such was his marvellous power 
of self-deception, that whatever he wished became to him right 
and true, simply because he wished it. 

The Duke and Duchess of York were married in Berlin on 
September 29, 1791. They had a tiresome journey to England, 
owing to the revolutionary spirit then prevailing in France, 
and at Lisle they were surrounded by a savage mob, and only 
escaped by obliterating the signs of royalty from their coach 
and equipage. They arrived in London in the middle of 
November, and were received with great ceremony by the King 
and Queen. On November 23, on account of some legal 
quibble, they were re-married according to the rites of the 
Church of England. The Prince of Wales gave the bride 
away. 

As there seemed a probability that one day the new Duchess 
of York might become Queen-Consort, her appearance and 
manner was much discussed. She has been described as "a 
very short woman, with a plain face, a neat little figure, and a 
remarkably small foot;" but despite her small stature the 
Duchess had a great sense of what was due to her rank and 
dignity. She was of a strong character, decidedly eccentric, 
haughty and reserved to strangers, but to her intimates the 
kindest woman in the world. 

Great curiosity was evinced in London society as to how 
the Duchess would conduct herself towards Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
not only because of the latter's relation to the Prince, but be- 
cause of the cordial friendship which was known to exist between 
her and the Duke of York. Their first meeting, which took 
place at a ball at the Duchess of Cumberland's, is thus described : 
"The Duchess looked much better than that first day at court. 

1 "Life and Letters of Sir G. Elliot." 




WATCH GIVEN TO MRS. FITZHERBERT 

BY THE PRINCE OF WALES 

Blue Enamel set with Pearls 

[By permission of Mr. John Haines) 



SUNSHINE AND SHADOW 197 

People in general were not presented to her, but several were 
by the Prince, Duke of York, &c., and the Duchess of Cum- 
berland presented Mrs. Fitz. Both ladies squeezed their fans, 
and talked for a few minutes, and that was all, so this was the 
-jirst meeting." ^ There were plenty to offer advice as to how 
the Duchess should conduct herself towards Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
but she declined to be influenced either by the court on one 
side, or the Prince of Wales or the Duke on the other. Brought 
up in the strict etiquette of the Prussian court, she had her 
own views about wives morganatic. She received Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert without difficulty — that much was due to her character 
and position; but she treated her with distant civility de haul en 
has, and would not recognise in any way the link between them, 
Mrs. Fitzherbert resented this attitude, and the Prince of Wales 
resented it also. The Duke of York could not force his Duchess 
to treat Mrs. Fitzherbert with more cordiality, for the Duchess 
had a will of her own, but the Prince of Wales apparently thought 
that the Duke could do so if he wished, and a coolness sprang 
up between the brothers in consequence. Lord Malmesbury, 
writing in 1792, says that Colonel St. Leger told him, "She 
[Mrs. Fitzherbert] dishkes the Duchess of York, because the 
Duchess will not treat her en belle sceur. It is that which is 
the cause of the coolness between the brothers." Apparently 
the dislike which the two ladies entertained for each other was 
ineradicable, for fourteen years later Lord Malmesbury writes 
in his diary: "May 25, 1803. The Duke of York came to me 
at five, uneasy lest the Duchess should be forced to sup at the 
same table as Mrs. Fitzherbert at the ball to be given by the 
Knights of the Bath, on the ist of June. He talks it over 
with me . . . says the King and Queen will not hear of it. 
On the other side he wishes to keep on terms with the Prince. 
I say I will see Lord Henley, who manages the jete, and try to 
manage it so that there shall be two distinct tables, one for the 
Prince, to which he is to invite, and another for the Duke and 
Duchess of York, to which she is to invite her company." 
Thus the dehcate matter was arranged; each lady had a table 
to herself. The curious part of this family quarrel is that, 
though a coolness sprang up between the royal brothers, it 

1 Letter of Miss Dee to Lady Harcourt: "Harcourt Papers." 



198 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

did not interrupt the warm friendship existing between the 
Duke of York and Mrs. Fitzherbert, though she was the cause 
of the coolness. In pubhc the Duke of York felt bound to 
support the Duchess, whose claim was certainly based on court 
etiquette, but in private he allowed himself to be governed by 
his own feelings. His marriage was not a happy one. The 
Duke was not a model husband, and the Duchess was ill- 
tempered. Their marriage was unblessed with children, and 
before long they were to all intents and purposes separated. 
But they resided under the same roof, for the Duchess was not 
a woman given to make a scandal. 

This year was marked by a further measure of relief to 
Roman Cathohcs. By this Act (1791) a number of obnoxious 
penal laws (some of them obsolete) were repealed; a Roman 
Catholic could no longer be prosecuted for not attending his 
parish (Anglican) church, nor for being a Papist, nor for hearing 
or saying Mass, nor for belonging to any ecclesiastical order 
of the Church of Rome, nor for performing or taking any part 
in any form of worship according to the Roman Catholic relig- 
ion. The abolition of these galhng restrictions was a distinct 
relief to the Roman Catholics, who now began to emerge from 
the shadow of persecution, under which they had lived for the 
last two centuries. Roman Catholic places of worship were 
now built without hindrance, and "missions" were established 
in different parts of England, not for the purpose of prosely- 
tising (the English Roman Cathohcs of that day did not prose- 
lytise), but solely for the purpose of ministering to the rehgious 
needs of the little communities of Roman Catholics scattered 
about the country. The funds for this purpose were provided 
by wealthy members of the Church. Among these was Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, who not only endowed a mission at Brambridge, 
the village where she had grown up, but contributed towards the 
support of one at Brighton. (The church there was not built 
until later.) Her religion was part of her Hfe, and she practised 
it regularly, but quietly and unobtrusively. She seldom spoke 
of it, and never attempted, in the least degree, to influence 
others, or to proselytise. This led many to suppose that she 
had given up her faith in compliance with the wishes of the 
Prince of Wales. "I hear," writes one, "that Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert has renounced the errors of Popery and eats maigre no 



SUNSHINE AND SHADOW 199 

longer." ^ Nothing could be further from the truth. The 
Prince never, in the slightest degree, attempted to hinder his wife 
in the practice of her religion, not even in times of popular excite- 
ment, when her attendance at Mass was likely to cause embar- 
rassment. Like the King, he favoured the Rehef Acts of 1778 
and 1 791. He was a friend of Sir John Throckmorton and other 
members of "the Catholic Committee," and he always showed 
the greatest courtesy to Roman Cathohcs. His views on the 
subject of CathoHc Emancipation were not at this time known; 
it was generally supposed that he did not share the King's 
strong prejudice to admitting Roman Catholics to Parliament, 
but that he agreed on this subject with Fox and other leading 
Whigs. Mrs. Fitzherbert never obtruded her views on the 
burning question of Emancipation; she seemed rather to dread 
its discussion at Carlton House, and if the question came up 
she always changed the subject, lest it should seem that she 
influenced the Prince. Like so many of the Enghsh Roman 
Catholics at that time, she was singularly temperate in her 
views, and decidedly opposed to proselytising. Her views were 
rather those of Sir John Throckmorton and the Catholic Com- 
mittee than of the ultramontane or "papistic" party. It was 
the fashion among many of the leading English Catholic laity 
at this time to deprecate undue interference from Rome, and 
to show rather that they had points of contact with the national 
religion.^ No doubt a good deal of this was due to a desire to 
break down prejudice against a creed which was considered to 
be Itahan and "un-EngHsh." They were anxious to show that 
Roman Catholics could be as loyal to the King and as tolerant 
of those who differed from them as their fellow-subjects, and so 
work for the great cause of Emancipation. Mrs. Fitzherbert 
was not one of those who worked for Emancipation, either di- 
rectly or indirectly. She seems to have been content with the free 
practice of her rehgion. At the same time, she was not, in any 
sense, unfaithful to her Church, nor forgetful of her co-rehgion- 
ists. An instance of the latter occurred in 1792 at Brighton. 

1 " Charles Long to Viscount Lowther." Lonsdale MSS. Historical MSS. 
Commission. 

^ But the Church of England was so spiritually dead at that time, that their 
overtures met with no response, and the strenuous protests of Archbishop Milner 
and the appointment of Vicars Apostolic by Rome checked this " Gallican " 
spirit, and brought the leading Roman CathoHc laity into line again. 



200 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

The French Revolution was then in full blaze. Fugitives 
were flying from France in great numbers, many to find refuge 
in England.- The burning of the Tuileries, the deposition and 
imprisonment of the King and Queen, and the massacres in 
Paris, had produced a profound impression in England, and 
the greatest sympathy was shown to the French emigres. The 
edicts against priests and nuns led to monasteries being broken 
up, and the wholesale flight of rehgious communities. Among 
the sufferers was a community of Franciscan nuns, which were 
located at Montarges, where they had been established for 
many years. They were expelled with violence by the French 
revolutionists, and fled for their lives. At Ostend they embarked 
on a boat for England, and after many days at sea they were 
eventually landed at Shoreham, near Brighton. The poor nuns 
were set down on the shore from fishing-boats, wet, penniless, 
hungry, and with nothing but the clothes they stood up in. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, who was then at Brighton, was one of the 
first to hear of their arrival. She immediately started a sub- 
scription among her friends at the Pavilion, and collected enough 
to provide the nuns with food and lodging. She then drove to 
Shoreham, where she found the nuns still sitting on the beach, 
surrounded by a curious and sympathetic crowd. Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert had them conveyed to Brighton, where she arranged a 
lodging for them in the Ship Inn. In this she was acting not 
only on her own charitable impulse, but on behalf of the Prince 
of Wales. His conduct on this occasion exhibits him in a 
favourable light, and shows how he could be moved to noble 
and generous actions. What happened to the nuns on their 
arrival at the Ship Inn is best told in the words of one of the 
members of the community. 

"It was there (at the inn) that we learned the protection 
accorded to us by the Prince of Wales through the intervention 
of Mrs. Fitzherbert, who came herself to see us on our arrival. 
We did not, however, as yet know that the protection extended 
so far as to defray all our expenses in the town, and that all 
the nobihty who were there had subscribed to this act of benevo- 
lence. . . . The Prince of Wales himself came to see the 
Reverend Mother. He entered into the minutest details of 
everything which concerned us." [He advised them to remain 
in England for a time until they could with safety return.] 



SUNSHINE AND SHADOW 201 

"The Prince again came to see us. This time he asked to see 
the community. The Reverend Mother having assembled us 
all, he received us with a kindness truly royal. He conjured 
the Reverend Mother (these were his words) to make the com- 
munity sit down, while he remained standing. He repeated 
the advice which he had given the evening before about our 
journey to Brussels, and he invited us in the most obhging 
terms to go to London, where we should find all the inhabitants 
disposed to recompense us for our losses. The want of chairs 
prevented many of us from being able to sit down. The Prince 
observed this, and, turning to Mrs. Fitzherbert, he said in 
that kind manner which is his characteristic, 'See, we are 
keeping them standing; let us be off, I cannot suffer this any 
longer.'" ^ 

Nor did the Prince's sympathy stop here. He collected for 
the nuns over £100, and it was by his assistance and advice 
that they finally settled in England, and founded a religious 
house near Taunton. Another branch of the same order from 
Bruges (with which the Wells, Mrs. Fitzherbert's connections 
by her first marriage, were connected) also fled to England and 
found an asylum with Sir Edward Smythe (Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
cousin) at Acton Burnell. A Benedictine mission was also 
estabhshed there during this period. In England generally at 
this time the generous sentiment of hospitahty and humanity 
overcame the feehngs of prejudice against "Popish priests." 
The nuns were not the only fugitives who received a warm 
welcome. In one week, over five hundred French people 
(chiefly aristocrats and priests) were landed at Brighton, inclu- 
ding the Archbishop of Avranches and the Dean of Rouen. The 
Marquise de Beaule voyaged from Dieppe to Brighton in an 
open boat in a tempest, and was thrown upon the beach more 
dead than ahve. Her experience was that of many aristocratic 
ladies of France. 

Perhaps the most interesting of these unfortunate fugitives 
was the young and beautiful Duchesse de Noailles, who fled 
from Paris for her hfe, disguised in boy's clothes; she found a 
fishing-boat at Dieppe, was concealed in a coil of cable, and 
after many days at sea was landed upon Brighton beach, one 

1 This account is from a MS. preserved at St. Mary's Priory, Princethorpe, 
Taunton. "Jerningham Letters." 



202 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

gusty morning, August 29, 1792. As soon as her arrival be- 
came known she "was received with the most polite and cordial 
hospitality by his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and 
Mrs. Fitzherbert." ^ The Duchesse stayed with Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert until other accommodation could be found for her, and 
when she had recovered from her fatigue she was dressed up in 
some of Mrs. Fitzherbert's clothes, and entertained with all 
possible honour by the Prince at the Pavilion. We read: 
"Mrs. Fitzherbert, the Duchesse de Noailles, and many other 
ladies of distinction were present at the cricket match, and 
dined in a marquee pitched on the ground for that purpose. 
The Prince's band of music attended, and played during the 
whole time the ladies were at dinner. In the evening Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, the Duchesse, Lady Clermont, and Miss Pigot" 
[Mrs. Fitzherbert's lady companion] "walked round the ground, 
seemingly the better to gratify the spectators with a sight of 
the French lady. The Duchesse de Noailles appears to be 
twenty-one or twenty-two years of age. She is very handsome, 
and her figure and deportment are remarkably interesting." ^ 

All this goes to show that Mrs. Fitzherbert's influence over 
the Prince showed no signs of wane. As Lord Malmesbury 
wrote in June 1792, "The Prince was more attached to Mrs. 
Fitzherbert than ever ... he is now more under her influnece 
than ever." Perhaps the strongest proof of her influence at 
this time is that she succeeded in maintaining the estrangement 
between the Prince and Fox, which had assumed a political as 
well as a personal aspect. With this the French Revolution 
had something to do, for the bloody excesses of the revolu- 
tionary mob had ahenated the sympathy of the moderate Whigs 
and led to a split in the party, the Duke of Portland and Burke 
representing the moderate wing and Fox the extremists. The 
Prince, who had no sympathy for the revolutionary doctrines 
of Fox, sided with Burke, and this despite the efforts of the 
Duchess of Devonshire on behalf of Fox. There is little doubt 
that Mrs. Fitzherbert, who viewed the French Revolution with 
horror and Fox with detestation, had something to say in this 
matter. In any event, after Burke's quarrel with. Fox, and his 
"dagger scene" in the House of Commons, the Prince also 

^Sussex Weekly Advertiser, September 3, 1792. 
2 Ibid, September 10, 1792. 



SUNSHINE AND SHADOW 203 

separated himself from Fox, and for six years had Kttle commu- 
nication with him. 

For the next two years (from 1792 to 1794) the Prince and 
Mrs. Fitzherbert led a comparatively secluded life. This was 
in part forced upon the Prince by circumstances. His debts 
were again causing him grave embarrassment, The usual 
appeal to the King was made, and met with the usual refusal. 
Again came the Prince's ostentatious retrenchment, Carlton 
House shut up, the household reduced, and the horses sold. 
The Prince was very little in London during these years. 
When he was not at Brighton he would take a place in the 
country, and live there the life of a country gentleman. He 
gave himself up completely to the pleasures of country life; his 
chief diversion was hunting. He was devoted to horses, and, 
notwithstanding his weight, he was a first-rate rider. It used 
to be a saying at Brighton that, heavy as he was, "he rode so 
well that he never soiled his nankeens." For the most part 
the Prince hunted in Hampshire, where he resided for one 
season at the Grange, near Alton, which he rented or borrowed 
from Lord Ashburton, and he hunted with the Villebois hounds. 
The Prince of Wales's plumes still appear on the club buttons. 
His choice of Hampshire, and that part of it in particular, was 
no doubt influenced by Mrs. Fitzherbert, whose mother and 
brothers still lived at Brambridge, and her uncle Mr. Errington 
and her cousin Harry Errington (a friend of the Prince of 
Wales) at Red Rice, near Andover. So attached was the 
Prince to this neighbourhood, that he rented for many years a 
place called Kempshott, where still linger legends of his tenancy. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert always accompanied the Prince of Wales on 
his visits to Hampshire ; but she seems generally to have resided 
at a cottage near by. At Kempshott she chose the decorations 
of the drawing-room, and the gardens are also said to have 
been laid out under her direction. The Prince in after years 
used to say that some of his happiest days were passed at 
Kempshott. He had as fine a pack of foxhounds in his kennel, 
and as splendid a lot of hunters in his stables, as could be met 
with in the county. He was exceedingly popular with all 
classes, the country squires, farmers, and labourers. 

The Prince's love of horses did not stop at hunting. He 
was for some years an active member of the Jockey Club, and 



io4 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

he had training stables at Newmarket. His horses were most 
successful; at the very outset of his racing career he had won 
the Derby, and during his connection with the turf, which 
extended over a period of seven years, he won in all one hun- 
dred and eighty-five races. The cost of his stud was said to 
amount to some ;^3o,ooo a year. He was especially fond of 
Newmarket, and his racing colours were always to be seen 
there, generally leading. Whenever there was a big meeting 
he and Mrs. Fitzherbert were sure to be present; though some- 
times they had not enough money left to get home, and on one 
occasion Mrs. Fiztherbert was reduced to borrowing ;^5 from 
the postillion. 

The Prince's connection with the turf terminated abruptly, 
in consequence of an unpleasantness which arose in connection 
with his jockey, Sam Chifney, who was called before the stew- 
ards of the Jockey Club for unfair riding of the Prince's horse 
"Escape," and warned off the turf. The Prince resented this 
treatment of his jockey, and never went to Newmarket again. 
There is no reason to suppose that the Prince had anything to 
do with Chifney's action, whether he were innocent or guilty, 
but many imputations were cast upon him, and the unfortunate 
incident did much to damage his popularity. 

The Prince loved popularity more than anything else, and 
when it suffered he was sorely distressed. He never sought 
the cause in some folly of his own, but invariably blamed 
somebody else. It may be feared that often he threw the 
blame on the unoffending Mrs. Fitzherbert; she was nearly 
always with him for one thing, and therefore an easy mark for 
his anger, and for another there were many mischief-makers 
ready to promote an estrangement between them. Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert must often have felt during these years that the house 
of her happiness was built upon sand. Of so unstable a nature 
was the Prince that it is marvellous she kept her ascendancy 
over him for so long. She could only have done it by shutting 
her eyes to much that was going on around her, and by making 
greater allowances for him than most women would make for 
any man. Though she stood first in his affections, she by no- 
means stood alone. It was aptly said by Sheridan "that the 
Prince was too much every lady's man to be the man of any 
lady," and this was a trait in his character that Mrs. Fitzherbert 



SUNSHINE AND SHADOW 205 

had to accept with what grace she could. She was powerless 
to alter it, and she knew that continual protests on her part 
would only lead to further estrangement. She tried to school 
herself into bearing her trials with calmness, by remembering 
how women threw themselves at his feet, and by arguing that 
in this respect she suffered with many another consort of a 
prince or king. After all she was his wife, and the others were 
only his mistresses. There is no need to dwell upon the Prince's 
amours ; they were many and notorious, and cannot be defended. 
But condemnation may be mitigated by remembering his youth, 
his temperament, and the temptations with which the Prince 
of Wales, of all men, was surrounded, and also the easy code of 
morality which prevailed in society at that time. No doubt 
Mrs. Fitzherbert remembered all this, yet despite her self- 
discipline she was not always une jemme com plais ante, and there 
were times when her sorely-tried patience gave way, and she 
assailed the delinquent with tears and reproaches. The Prince, 
whose moral sense in this respect was completely wanting, re- 
garded her protests as outbursts of unreasonable jealousy, and 
her resentment as a proof that she no longer loved him. He 
was filled with a sense of injury. There were always beautiful 
and frail sirens ready to whisper in his ear suggestions against 
Mrs. Fitzherbert; one of them was, that she had been heard 
to say "it was the rank of his Royal Highness that she loved, 
more than his person." This was untrue, for if ever the Prince 
of Wales had one to love him, that one was Maria Fitzherbert, 
and she showed it by every action of her life. Deep down in 
his heart he knew this, but it served his purpose for the moment 
to carry the war into her camp by regarding her remonstrances 
as proofs of her lack of affection. Rumours of their quarrels 
and estrangement, therefore, were frequent during these years. 
Lady Jerningham ^ mentions one of them so far back as 1791. 
They even penetrated to the circle of the court. Mrs. Har- 
court, a confidante of Queen Charlotte, declares that the Duke 
of Gloucester told her that "the marriage between the Prince 
and Mrs. Fitzherbert was without much love on either side. 
He had his amusements elsewhere, but he had much considera- 
tion for her. She was sometimes jealous and discontented; 

1 " Jerningham Letters." 



2o6 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

her temper violent, though apparently so quiet. He hoped 
, . . the Prince would remain in her hands, as she was no 
political intriguer, and probably, if they parted, he would fall 
into worse hands." ^ 

So matters went on until early in the year 1794, when Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's position suffered an indirect blow from the annul- 
ment of the marriage of Prince Augustus Frederick,^ a younger 
brother of the Prince of Wales, with Lady Augusta Murray, 
daughter of the Earl of Dunmore. The story of this marriage 
is one of the romances of the House of Hanover. Augustus 
Frederick, hke all the younger sons of George III., spent much 
of his youth abroad. In the winter of 1792-93 he was in deli- 
cate health, and was sent to Rome under the care of a governor, 
to escape the rigours of the English chmate. He was then in 
his twentieth year. Rome was at that time one of the gayest 
and most cosmopolitan cities in Europe, and there was a large 
colony of English residents and visitors. Among the English 
staying at Rome that winter were the Countess of Dunmore 
and her family. Her husband, the Earl of Dunmore, was not 
with her; he was occupied with his duties as Governor of the 
Bahama Islands.^ Lady Augusta Murray was the eldest 
daughter of a numerous family. She was a lady of beauty, 
wit, and talent. Prince Augustus Frederick fell in love with 
her, and after four months' courtship he, unknown to her 
mother, offered her marriage. Lady Augusta at first refused 
her lover, and pointed out to him the obstacles in the way of 
their union; but her opposition only increased the young Prince's 
passion, and in the end she gave way. It was the usual story; 
first of all she promised never to marry any one else, then they 
bound themselves by a solemn betrothal according to the fashion 
of the time. This betrothal was a preliminary to the marriage 
which followed. 

There was in Rome at that time a clergyman of the English 
Church, named Gunn, and to him the Prince appealed. De- 
spite the penalties of the Royal Marriage Act, the clergyman 
consented to perform the ceremony of marriage between Prince 

^ Mrs. Harcourt's "Diary." 

2 Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773-1843), sixth son of George III. 

3 John Murray, fourth Earl of Dunmore (i 732-1809), Governor of New York 
and Virginia (previous to the American War), was appointed Governor of the 
Bahamas 1787. 




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SUNSHINE AND SHADOW 207 

Augustus Frederick and Lady Augusta, and in April 1793 they 
were secretly married at Rome, according to the rites of the 
Church of England, by Mr. Gunn, but without witnesses. 
Some months later it became necessary that Lady Augusta 
should tell her mother of the marriage. Dismayed and be- 
wildered. Lady Dunmore consented to keep it secret until its 
validity could be decided. In the autumn of 1793 the Prince 
and the Dunmore family returned to England, and there the 
Prince learned that, apart from the Royal Marriage Act, the 
fact that the marriage had been solemnised in the Roman 
jurisdiction might be used to invahdate it. He at once deter- 
mined to have the ceremony repeated in England, and the banns 
of marriage between "Augusta Murray, spinster, and Augustus 
Frederick, bachelor," were published at St. George's, Hanover 
Square. As no titles were used they passed as two ordinary 
persons, and the banns excited no remark. They were married 
over again by the curate, who had no knowledge of whom he 
was marrying. When the King and the Queen heard of Prince 
Augustus Frederick's marriage, their wrath knew ho bounds. 
Pespite the tears and prayers of the wedded lovers, despite the 
birth and position of Lady Augusta, and the fact that she was 
with child, the King at once took steps, under the Royal Mar- 
riage Act of 1772, to have the marriage annulled and set aside. 
This was the first case under the Act, for the marriages of the 
King's two brothers without the consent of the King had taken 
place previous to the passing of the Act; the marriage of the 
Prince of Wales to Mrs. Fitzherbert had taken place since, but 
it had never been acknowledged. It is not necessary to go 
into the details of this case, which was in the nature of a test 
case. Of course the King gained his point, for the courts of 
law proved themselves as obsequious to his wishes as Pariiament 
had done. By a formal process the Court of Privileges declared 
both the marriage in England and the marriage at Rome to be 
null and void. The penalties of premunire were not enforced 
(it was practically impossible to enforce them); but to the un- 
happy husband and wife the annulment of their marriage was 
penalty enough. Prince Augustus Frederick protested vehe- 
mently against the decision, but his protest was disregarded. 
He wrote to his father, and begged to be allowed to abandon 
his rights to the succession, and to sink into the character of a 



2o8 MRS. FITZHERBERl 

private gentleman, so that he might be regarded as the husband 
of his wife. His prayer was rejected with scorn. Lady Au- 
gusta then refused to occupy an anomalous position, and she 
withdrew from her husband against his will. The Prince always 
maintained that she was his wife. Two children were born of 
the marrage, a boy and a girl.^ In consequence of the Royal 
Marriage Act these children were regarded as born out of 
wedlock. But a compHcation arose, for though illegitimate in 
England they were legitimate in Hanover, and the son was 
later declared ehgible to succeed to the throne of Hanover, in 
failure of the male issue of the Duke of Cumberland.^ The 
King so far recognised the anomalous state of affairs as to 
grant in 1806 a Royal license to Lady Augusta to assume the 
title of Comtesse d'Ameland. 

The course of this unhappy affair to its untoward ending 
was watched with keen interest by Mrs. Fitzherbert. The 
decision of the Court of Privileges made it clear to her that, 
even if her marriage were acknowledged at some future time, it 
would always be regarded as illegal. For if Lady Augusta 
Murray's marriage to Prince Augustus Frederick (a sixth son, 
and thus far removed from the succession to the throne) was 
refused the approval of the King and the sanction of the law, 
what chance had Mrs. Fitzherbert, who had married the heir- 
apparent, of any recognition? Lady Augusta Murray was a 
member of the Church of England, Mrs. Fitzherbert was a 
member of the Church of Rome. Moreover, Lady Augusta, 
though a subject, could boast of royal descent on both sides. 
This fact might have led George III. to pause before he cast a 
slur upon this virtuous woman, for her pedigree was an illus- 
trious one, in a sense as illustrious as that of his consort from 
Mecklenburg-Strehtz. True, Lady Augusta was British and 
not German. On her father's side she could trace back her 

1 The son was known as Sir Augustus d'Este, the daughter married Lord 
Truro. Lady Augusta Murray died in 1830. The Duke of Sussex after a 
short interval married Lady Ceciha Buggin {nee Underwood) who was later 
created by Queen Victoria Duchess of Inverness. 

2 This contingency did not arise. On the accession of Queen Victoria, by 
the operation of the Salic Law Hanover became separated from England, and 
the Duke of Cumberland became King of Hanover as Ernest Augustus I. He 
was succeeded by his son George V., "the blind King." The de jure King of 
Hanover is his son, the present Duke of Cumberland, who is robbed of his 
rights by Prussia. 



SUNSHINE AND SHADOW 209 

lineage, through the Stanleys, to the daughter of Henry VII 
of England; through the same line she could establish her 
descent from Wilham I., Prince of Orange, and Louis, Duke 
of Montpensier; again, from the same source she could show 
her descent from Charles VII. of France. On the side of her 
mother, who was a Stuart, she could trace back her descent 
in the direct line to the Hamiltons, Dukes of Chatelherault, and 
to James II., King of Scotland. Surely the daughter of an 
earl with a pedigree hke this was as fit a mate for a younger 
son of a King of England, as some obscure German Princess? 
But German traditions unfortunately prevailed in the court of 
George III., and thus Lady Augusta was placed in the light 
of the Prince's mistress, and an insult was cast not only upon 
her, but on her family, and through them on the whole body 
of the British peerage. 

The decision of the Court of Privileges finally closed the 
door upon Mrs. Fitzherbert's hopes of restitution, had any 
remained after the denials of her marriage in Parhament. It 
was now made clear to her, beyond any shadow of doubt, that 
she had nothing to trust to but the honour of her husband, and 
events soon showed that she trusted to a broken reed. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE FIRST SEPARATION 

(1794-1795) 

By this time the Prince's affairs were again in a desperate 
condition, and it became obvious, even to him, that the day of 
reckoning could not be delayed much longer. Sunk in debt 
and difficulties, he was at his wits' end for money. All the 
usual sources of relief were closed to him; the Jews and money- 
lenders would not advance him a penny more. Wearied by 
fruitless appHcations, and disgusted with barren promJses, many 
of the Prince's tradesmen refused any longer to execute his 
orders, and, denied admission to his palace, some of them 
stopped him in the streets with demands for paym.ent; even the 
workmen employed at Carlton House solicited their wages in 
vain, and at last presented a petition for payment to the Prime 
Minister, who referred them back to the Prince. Never was 
Prince in so pitiful a plight before. Driven to desperation, he 
tried to raise money at exorbitant interest on post obits on the 
King's life; these deeds were signed^ by the Prince of Wales and 
his two brothers, the Dukes of York and Clarence. Double 
the sum lent was to be repaid when the King died, or any of 
the three royal brothers came to the throne. But even these 
terms failed to tempt the lenders, for only some ;;^3o,ooo was 
raised. The Prince went further still, and offered ;^io,ooo and 
an Irish peerage after the King's death for every ;^5ooo lent to 
him now. But even for this reward he could raise httle or 
nothing, so dishonoured were his bonds. Few would believe 
his promises, even when given in writing, for so many accusa- 
tions had been brought against him of breach of faith, and 
repudiation of obligations. Besides, it was well known that 
the Prince regarded all those to whom he owed money as his 
worst enemies. 

By the middle of the year 1793 the Prince of Wales had 



THE FIRST SEPARATION . 211 

exhausted every resource, and was forced to apply once more 
to the King. Lord Malmesbury was in London at the time; 
the Prince sent for him, and told him the tale of his " total ruin." 
Several executions had been in his house, he said, Lord Rawdon 
had saved him from one, but what was one among so many? 
his debts amounted to ;^375,ooo. Lord Malmesbury was im- 
plpred to bring the matter before the King, and to tell him in the 
event of refusal that the Prince must break up his estabhsh- 
ment and live abroad. Lord Malmesbury seems to have 
shifted the task on to Lord Southampton, who (he must have 
been used to it by this time) drew up yet another schedule of 
the Prince's debts, and laid it before the King. But the King 
was obdurate. In vain the Prince promised retrenchment and 
reform; the King heard him unmoved. The King's position 
was much stronger than in 1787, when the Prince had forced 
his hand. From a variety of causes George III. was now 
popular with the country. The violence of the French Revolu- 
tion had, by contrast, increased the popularity of the monarchy 
in England. It had also shattered the Whig party. The Prince 
was estranged from Fox, the only man who could have carried 
the matter of his debts through the House of Commons, and 
he had no friends of importance in either House of Parliament. 
The King was master of the situation, and could dictate terms 
to his son. His terms were these : — • The Prince of Wales must 
marry some Protestant Princess of Germany. With so large a 
royal family of sons and daughters there seemed no danger to 
the succession to the throne. But none of them was married ex- 
cept the Duke of York, and his marriage had turned out badly; 
moreover, the Duchess had no children, and the doctors said she 
was unlikely ever to have any. The unhappiness of this marriage 
of policy did not deter the King from urging a similar marriage 
on his eldest son. His terms were absolute. If the Prince would 
not marry as he wished, he would not move a step to have his 
debts paid. Indeed he would go further, and instruct the Govern- 
nment to oppose any, and every, application in Parliament. 

At first the Prince refused to entertain the idea, as he had 
refused before. He knew that he was in honour bound to 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, and though he would not publicly acknowl- 
edge his marriage to her, yet in his heart he recoiled from the 
perjury involved by his deserting her and marrying some one 



212 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

else. It was a struggle between his conscience and his neces- 
sity; and while this struggle was going on there came the momen- 
tous decision of the Court of Privileges, dissolving the marriage 
of Prince Augustus Frederick and Lady Augusta Murray. 
This decision, pronounced by the highest legal authorities in the 
realm, not only annulled the marriage, but expressly left the 
Prince free to marry again if he would. Coming when it did, 
the pronouncement was not without influence on the volatile 
mind of the Prince of Wales. It did not quiet his conscience 
altogether, but it stifled it. It shifted the responsibihty from 
his own shoulders to those of the eminent jurists who gave the 
decision, and built a golden bridge for him to retreat, if he 
wished, from his solemn engagement to Mrs. Fitzherbert. Yet 
even so he hesitated, for despite their occasional quarrels caused 
by his infidehties, and the difficulties which arose from her 
religion, Mrs. Fitzherbert was still the first woman in the world 
to him, and so far as he loved any one he loved her. While he 
stood thus at the parting of the ways, his evil genius appeared 
on the scene in the shape of Frances, Countess of Jersey.^ 

Lady Jersey, who before her marriage had been known as 
the "beautiful Miss Twysden," was the daughter of an Irish 
Bishop, and married Lord Jersey, who held high office in the 
Court of George III. Ever susceptible to the charms of female 
beauty, the fickle Prince fell a victim to her wiles. At the time 
the Prince came under her influence Lady Jersey was well past 
her youth, and the mother of a numerous family — indeed she 
was already a grandmother. To the Prince her mature age was 
an additional attraction, for, in the earher part of his life, he 
always preferred women older than himself. Lady Jersey was 
still in the meridian of her charms, and she was undoubtedly a 
fascinating woman. Wraxall speaks of her "irresistible fascina- 
tion and charm." Her beauty was of a type which appealed 
wholly to the senses, but she had wit and ambition with it. She 
was a passionate, an unprincipled, and intriguing woman, yet 
withal a very fine lady. She was a great friend of Lady Harcourt,^ 
and through her a favourite of Queen Charlotte. From the 

1 Frances, Countess of Jersey, daughter of the Bishop of Raphoe, who mar- 
ried the fourth Earl of Jersey, Lord Chamberlain and Master of the Buck- 
hounds. 

2 Lady Harcourt was Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte; Lord 
Harcourt was Master of the Horse to George HI. 



THE FIRST SEPARATION 213 

moment that chance threw her in the Prince's way she used all 
her arts to enslave him, and before long he was completely sub- 
jugated. Her rank and position at court made her different from 
those other ladies of whom he had made easy conquests, and the 
difference lent a zest. Queen Charlotte soon came to know of 
the Prince of Wales's infatuation for Lady Jersey. The Queen 
posed as a dragon of virtue, and no doubt she was so, but in 
this case, so far from disapproving of her son's liaison, she seemed 
rather to encourage it ; at least she did not withdraw her favour 
from Lady Jersey, who stood higher with her than before. 
Queen Charlotte was anxious to break Mrs. Fitzherbert's in- 
fluence over her son, and Lady Jersey, knowing this, at once 
set to work to undermine it. She piqued the Prince's vanity 
by repeating the current gossip that Mrs. Fitzherbert cared for 
his rank alone. She artfully insinuated that his continual con- 
nection with a Roman Catholic was the sole cause of his unpop- 
ularity, she exaggerated the Protestant prejudice against her, 
she sympathised with the Prince in his money troubles, and 
hinted that Mrs. Fitzherbert was an insuperable obstacle to 
their settlement; she made light of that lady's claims upon the 
Prince, she urged that he was not bound to her in any way, 
that he was perfectly free to marry whom he wished. Had not 
eminent lawyers and godly bishops decided to that effect in 
the case of Prince Augustus Frederick? Mrs. Fitzherbert was 
taking an unfair advantage of an act of boyish folly. Lady 
Jersey knew the wishes of the King and Queen with regard to 
the Prince's marriage to a German princess, and she imagined 
that if she could bring it about she would advance her own 
interests at court. Such a marriage of policy, she argued, would 
render the breach with Mrs. Fitzherbert complete and final. 
On the other hand, it would not affect her influence over the 
Prince, for he was sure to regard his wife with indifference, 
and she (Lady Jersey) would reign supreme. 

The Prince listened to the voice of the temptress, and the fact 
that he hstened showed her that he was yielding. Perhaps he was 
willing to be persuaded, and when persuasion came from such a 
quarter he could not resist it. The combined effect of Lady Jer- 
sey's allurements and arguments, and his own desperate financial 
condition, proved too strong for the Prince; he yielded so far as 
to take the preliminary step of breaking with Mrs. Fitzherbert. 



214 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

The blow came in June 1794, and found Mrs. Fitzherbert 
quite unprepared. She was then staying at her villa near 
Richmond, and the Prince was at Brighton. Mrs. Fitzherbert 
intended to go to Brighton later. In the meanwhile the Prince 
had arranged to meet her at dinner at the Duke of Clarence's at 
Bushey on a certain day. She had no idea that anything was 
wrong between them; for she had recently received the following 
hurried note from the Prince at Brighton: — 

"My dear Love, — I have just receiv'd a letter from my 
Sister by the [illegible] this Evening, desiring me to come to 
Windsor, which tho' exceptionally inconvenient to me at this 
moment in particular, owing to my being to give my annual 
Regimental dinner on Wednesday, I mean to comply with, & 
set out to-morrow morning early, having put off my dinner 
& all my Company to Friday. I therefore mean to pass 
Wednesday in London & return here on Thursday — I have 
just been dining at the General's, where we have had a very 
pleasant and a very jolly party. Adieu my dear Love, excuse 
haste, — Ever Thine, "G P 

"Brighton, June 23, 1794." ^ ' 

When Mrs. Fitzherbert arrived at the Duke of Clarence's 
she found the Prince was not there. But a letter from him was 
given to her, saying he would never enter her house again. 
Lord Stourton gives the following account of the episode, which, 
though it does not wholly tally with the foregoing letter, may be 
regarded as substantially correct: — ■ "Her first separation from 
the Prince was preceded by no quarrel or even coolness, and 
came upon her quite unexpectedly. She received, when sitting 
down to dinner at the table of William IV., then Duke of 
Clarence, the first intimation of the loss of her ascendency over 
the affections of the Prince; having only the preceding day 
received a note from his Royal Highness, written in his usual 
strain of friendship, and speaking of their appointed engagement 

1 This letter was found among Mrs. Fitzherbert's papers after her death; 
it was one of the few which escaped being burnt in 1833, probably because she 
had mislaid it. It is endorsed in her own handwriting, "This letter I receaved 
the morg of the day the Prince sent me word, he would never enter my house 
(Lady Jersey's influence)." The letter was lent me by one who cherishes the 
memory of Mrs. Fitzherbert. 



THE FIRST SEPARATION 215 

to dine at the house of the Duke of Clarence. The Prince's 
letter was written from Brighton, where he had met Lady 
Jersey. From that time she never saw the Prince. . . ." ^ 

Mrs. Fitzherbert knew the quarter whence the blow came; 
she knew that Lady Jersey was with the Prince, and, wounded 
in her love and her pride, she made no answer to his letter, and 
seems to have had no further communication with him, at least 
directly. As the Prince gave no explanation for his extraordi- 
nary conduct, she sought none. She abandoned her intention 
of going to Brighton for the summer, and for a short time she 
appears to have gone abroad. Some say she went to Switzer- 
land, and from the troubled state of France at the time, this 
seems a probable place of her retreat. It is said that the Prince 
repented after a few days, and was anxious to see her and offer 
an explanation. But she withdrew without a word, and left 
the field clear for her rival. From a tactical point of view this 
was a mistake, for with so unstable a character as the Prince, 
"out of sight, out of mind," was always true. Her silence 
seemed to him a proof that she no longer loved him. Perhaps, 
had she been more yielding, what happened later would never 
have taken place. 

Meanwhile rumour, which had so often prophesied the 
separation, was busy again. Lord Mornington writes to Lord 
Grenville (Brighton, July 15, 1794): "I heard last night from 
no less authority than Tom the Third ^ that a treaty of sepa- 
ration and provision is on foot (if not already concluded) be- 
tween his Royal Highness and the late 'Princess Fitz.' I think 
you ought to marry his Royal Highness to some frow imme- 
diately; and I am told (by the same eminent authority) that he 
is very well disposed to take such a wife, as it may be his 
Majesty's pleasure to provide for him." ^ 

The surmise proved correct. Swayed by the prompting of 
self-interest, worried by his debts, influenced by the sensuous 
wiles of Lady Jersey, resentful at the way in which Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert had received his communication, giving him silence 
when he had expected tears, contempt instead of entreaties and 

1 Langdale, op. cit. 

2 Mr. Thomas William Coke of Holkham, first Earl of Leicester (1752-1842), 
also known as "King Tom." 

3 Fortescue MSS. Historical MSS. Com., vol. ii. 



21 6 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

reproaches, the Prince stifled the voice of his conscience and 
made the plunge. 

Within six weeks of his breaking from Mrs. Fitzherbert the 
Prince announced to the King his wilhngness to agree to his 
terms and marry as his father wished. Having at last brought 
himself to the point, the Prince did not care who his bride was, 
provided his debts were paid. He had to seek a wife among 
the Protestant princesses of Germany, and he is reported 
to have said "that one d — -d German frow was as good as 
another." Among this great company of marriageable prin- 
cesses two stood out pre-eminently — Louise, Princess of 
Mecklenburg-Strehtz, niece of Queen Charlotte, and Carohne, 
Princess of Brunswick, niece of George III. 

The former princess. Princess Louise, was infinitely superior 
in beauty, refinement, and abilities to the other. She afterwards 
became the famous Queen Louise of Prussia. But unfortu- 
nately for England (though perhaps fortunately for herself), 
the Prince would not hear of her as a wife ; she was his mother's 
niece, her favourite candidate for the honour of his hand, and 
that was sufficient for him to refuse her. He had no wish to 
raise a second princess of the house of Mecklenburg to the 
throne of England; "one of that family was enough," he said 
rudely. His choice fell on his first cousin, Caroline of Bruns- 
wick, whose mother, the King's sister, was by birth an Enghsh- 
woman. His choice is said to have been dictated by Lady 
Jersey, to whom the unsuitable character of this Princess 
was known by report. Nothing could be farther from her 
schemes than that the Prince should fall in love with his wife, 
as he might have done had he married the beautiful and accom- 
phshed Princess Louise. Therefore, to quote Lord Holland: 
"She [Lady Jersey] may have decided his preference for a 
woman of indehcate manners, indifferent character, and not 
very inviting appearance, from the hope that disgust for the 
wife would secure constancy to the mistress." Thus came about 
the Prince's strange choice of Caroline of Brunswick, strange 
because if he had searched all over Europe he could not have 
found a princess more unsuited to him in every respect. The 
Prince did not trouble to make any inquiries about his bride. 
Having made up his mind to marry, he acted, as he always did, 
in a hurry; perhaps he feared that if he delayed or hesitated 



THE FIRST SEPARATION 217 

longer his conscience might awaken. He went to the King at 
once. "The Prince of Wales," said Lord Liverpool, "told his 
father very abruptly one day, on his return from hunting, that 
he wished to marry. 'Well,' said the King, 'I will then, with 
your consent, send some confidential person to report on the 
Protestant princesses of the stated age and character, but 
qualified for such an alliance. Your wife must be a Protestant 
and a princess: in all other respects your choice is unfettered.' 
'It is made,' rephed the Prince; 'the daughter of the Duke of 
Brunswick.' George III. rephed that to his own niece he could 
take no exception; but yet he recommended his son to make 
more circumstantial inquiries about her person and manners, 
&c. The Prince pretended to have done so." ^ 

The King lost no time in communicating the glad news to 
his Prime Minister; he wrote to Pitt: — ■ 

"Weymouth, August 24, 1794. 
"Agreeable to what I mentioned to Mr. Pitt before I came 
here, I have this morning seen the Prince of Wales, who has 
acquainted me with his having broken off all connection with 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, and his desire of entering into a more credit- 
able line of hfe by marrying; expressing at the same time that 
my niece, the Princess of Brunswick, may be the person. Un- 
doubtedly she is the person who naturally must be most agree- 
able to me. I expressed my approbation of the idea, provided 
his plan was to lead a life that would make him appear respect- 
able, and consequently render the Princess happy. He assured 
me that he perfectly coincided with me in opinion. I then 
said that till Parhament assembled, no arrangement could be 
taken except my sounding my sister, that no idea of any other 
marriage may be encouraged.^ ,4^ -p ,, 

The King then set about "sounding his sister," an empty 
phrase, for the Duchess of Brunswick,^ who dearly loved her 
native country, was overjoyed at the brilliant prospect thus 

1 "Memoirs of the Whig Party." Lord Liverpool in 1820 gave Lord Holland 
the above account, saying that he had it directly from George III. 

2 I>ord Stanhope's "Life of Pitt," ii. 20. (Appendix.) 

3 Augusta, eldest daughter of Frederick Prince of Wales and sister of George 
III (i737-i?i3), married Charles William, Duke of Brunswick. 



2i8 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

opened to her daughter. In November the indispensable Lord 
Malmesbury was despatched to Brunswick to settle the details 
of the marriage treaty and to bring the bride to England. 

So far nothing had been made pubhc on the subject, but 
rumour, always busy, travelled even to Mrs. Fitzherbert in her 
retirement and whispered of the projected marriage of the Prince 
of Wales. She had heard the rurnour so often before, that at 
first she discredited it, for she remembered his vows and prom- 
ises. But the rumour became so persistent and so expKcit that 
her heart misgave her. The Prince's silence too was ominous. 
The first flush of her anger and grief at his letter had now 
subsided; she could review matters more calmly. She began 
to make excuses for him; she attributed their misunderstanding 
to Lady Jersey, but she did not beheve that lady could maintain 
her sway very long; she knew, or thought she knew, the Prince's 
character too well. He had often gone astray before, and had 
always come back to her, after a longer or a shorter interval, 
penitent and full of promises of amendment-. She had forgiven 
so much and overlooked so much that this time she had deter- 
mined to be sterner. Therefore she had returned no answer 
to his letter (he did not indeed ask for one) and had gone away 
without a word. But when the weeks passed and she heard 
nothing from him it began to be borne in upon her that this 
estrangement was likely to be serious. She blamed herself for 
having acted so hastily in going abroad. She returned to 
England in September and went to her villa at Richmond. 
There the rumour again assailed her that the Prince of Wales 
was betrothed to a German princess. Yet still she persisted in 
disbelieving, in hoping against hope. At last, in November, 
she was informed from an authoritative source that the Prince 
was going to marry his cousin, the Princess Caroline of Bruns- 
wick. 

To Mrs. Fitzherbert the news came as a crushing blow, an 
overwhelming revelation of the Prince's perfidy. It was a 
public repudiation of her, even more damaging than Fox's 
memorable speech in Parliament. Her happiness, her dignity, 
her fortune, all suffered by it, and though she knew herself to 
be his wife in the sight of her Church (which was to her in the 
sight of God), in the eyes of the world she was made to appear 
nothing but a cast-off mistress. Lady Augusta Murray, though 



THE FIRST SEPARATION 219 

repudiated by the law, had at least consolation in the fact that 
her marriage, whether legal or illegal, was publicly acknowl- 
edged to have taken place, and her husband maintained that 
she was his wife, notwithstanding the decision of the courts of 
law. Mrs. Fitzherbert had no such consolation. The fact of 
her marriage had been twice denied in Parliament, and her 
husband now had pubhcly repudiated her. She had in her 
possession documents which proved beyond all doubt that she 
was married to the Prince, and, if she chose to publish them, 
her character would be cleared. It was in her power to inflict 
a most damaging blow on the man who had thus betrayed her, 
yet the thought of taking such revenge never crossed her mind. 
Even now, when he did her the cruellest wrong a man could 
do a woman, she loved him, and was disposed to make excuses 
for him, laying the blame on his desperate plight, and on his 
evil advisers rather than on himself. 

Soon after the news of the betrothal had been communicated 
to her, Mrs. Fitzherbert received a communication from the 
Prince's lawyers informing her that the ;^3ooo a year which 
had been granted to her since her marriage would be continued 
as before. Her first impulse was to refuse it, but at this point 
her uncle, Mr. Errington, intervened, and positively forbade 
her to do so. He, Hke all Mrs. Fitzherbert's relatives and 
friends, was full of sympathy for her, but he knew the volatile 
character of the Prince, and he took the view that the separa- 
tion, which had now come, was inevitable sooner or later — 
the only wonder to him was that it had not come before. He 
had tried in 1785 to dissuade his niece from this ill-advised 
union, but as she was inflexible, he satisfied himself that 
the marriage was valid according to the law of his Church, 
and then let things go. So, now that separation had come, he 
was too wise to remonstrate with either of the parties, but 
contented himself with looking after his niece's interests as well 
as he could. The task was easy, for Mr. Errington found the 
Prince more than ready to meet him half-way. The offer to 
continue the annuity of ;^30oo was quite spontaneous on the 
part of the Prince. More than that, he had requested the Lord 
Chancellor, Lord Loughborough, to ask the King, in the event of 
the Prince's death before that of his father, to take it upon him- 
self to continue to Mrs. Fitzherbert the pension. To this George 



220 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

III. consented without demur. The Lord Chancellor wrote to 
the Prince of Wales : — 

"December 19, 1794. 

"Sir, — In obedience to your Royal Highness's commands, 
I had the honour of representing to his Majesty the anxiety 
you had expressed lest a possible though very improbable event 
might interrupt the continuance of that provision you had 
thought proper to make for a Lady who had been distinguished 
by your regard, and at the same time to express the hope your 
Royal Highness entertained that in such an event his Majesty's 
goodness might extend to the prolongation of it. His Majesty 
was pleased to receive this communication in the most gracious 
manner, observing at the same time that in the natural order 
of things the occasion was not likely to present itself, but that 
your Royal Highness had no reason to entertain any uneasiness 
on this account. 

"I have the honour to be, with the most perfect devotion, 
Sir, your Royal Highness's most faithful and most obedient- 

^^^^^'^^' "Loughborough." 

The Prince sent this letter to Miss Pigot, and asked her to 
give it to Mrs. Fitzherbert as an additional proof of his care 
for her future welfare.^ The incident is creditable both to the 
Prince and the King. George III., though he did not know the 
whole truth about his son's illegal marriage, recognised that 
Mrs. Fitzherbert had special claims on his consideration. 
Queen Charlotte recognised them also, and from this time for- 
ward both the King and the Queen showed her unvarying 
kindness. Perhaps their consciences were not quite easy about 
the way she had been treated, and this made them the kinder. 
Lord Stourton says that Mrs. Fitzherbert frequently assured 
him: — "That there was not one of the royal family who had 
not acted with kindness to her. She particularly instanced the 
Queen; and, as for George III., from the time she set footing 
in England till he ceased to reign, had he been her own father, 
he could not have acted towards her with greater tenderness 
and affection." This reads Hke exaggeration, unless the words 

1 Mrs. Fitzherbert in 1833 placed the letter among her papers deposited at 
Coutts's Bank, though it does not appear in the list given by Langdale, op. cit. 
p. 87. It is published here by permission of his Majesty the King. 



THE FIRST SEPARATION 221 

"from the time she set footing in England" refer to her return 
from Switzerland in 1794, when the negotiations for her future 
provision were pending. Previously to that date George III. 
does not seem to have shown her any consideration, and his 
allusion to her in his letter to Mr. Pitt could hardly be described 
as paternal. 

No hint of this confidential negotiation reached the pubhc 
ear. The air was thick with rumour and conjecture, but be- 
yond the fact that the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert had sepa- 
rated, nothing definite was known. Later it leaked out that 
an adequate provision had been made for her, and evidence of 
the completeness of the separation was given to the world by 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's selHng her mansion in Pall Mall and giving 
up her house at Brighton. 

A few days after George III. had guaranteed the continuance 
of Mrs. Fitzherbert's pension, in the event of the prior death of 
his eldest son, the King announced the forthcoming marriage 
in a speech which he delivered to both houses of Parliament on 
December 30, 1794. "I have," said his Majesty, "the greatest 
satisfaction in announcing to you the conclusion of a treaty of 
marriage between my dear son, the Prince of Wales, and the 
Princess Caroline, daughter of the Duke of Brunswick." Then 
he went on to recommend that a suitable provision be made for 
the Prince's estabhshment. This was the first official announce- 
ment of the marriage. 

The pubhc curiosity was great. What would Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert say? What would she do? But Mrs. Fitzherbert 
uttered no cry, and made no complaint. She closed her doors 
to her friends, and went into retirement as though she were 
widowed, thus escaping the sympathy of those who wished her 
well, and the curious gaze of the vulgar. In this, as in all 
crises of her life, her conduct was admirable in its dignity and 
self-restraint. 

Meanwhile preparations for the marriage between the 
Prince of Wales and Princess Caroline of Brunswick went on 
apace. Lord Malmesbury has told us in full the story of his 
mission to Brunswick,^ where the bride-elect resided. There 
is no need to repeat it here. Suffice it to say that Lord Malmes- 

1 Malmesbury, op. cit. 



222 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

bury records from the first that he had misgivings; but his 
judgment of the Princess was perhaps prejudiced. Princess 
CaroHne had her good quahties, but they were apparently those 
which this courtier and diplomatist was incapable of appre- 
ciating. She was warm-hearted, candid, generous, and brave. 
There was nothing mean or paltry in her disposition, and with 
a kindly and judiciou? guide she might have developed into a 
fine character. Lord Malmesbury saw in her only an ungrace- 
ful and undignified young woman, whose florid good looks and 
boisterous good-humour we remarked by an utter absence of 
dignity and refinement. Her conversation was broad, some- 
times even coarse; she was careless in her dress and not very 
cleanly in her person. She was given to making the most in- 
discreet confidences, and to cultivating excessive familiarity with 
her inferiors. The mattresse en litre of the Duke of Brunswick 
thus spoke of her to Lord Malmesbury, in words that were 
almost prophetic: "She is not corrupted; she has never done 
anything really bad, but she has no command of her words; she 
confides in every one, and when she is surrounded in London 
with clever intriguers, everything she says will be repeated and 
distorted." ^ It may be added that, though no beauty, she was 
not bad-looking. Mrs. Harcourt writes, "In looks there is 
some resemblance to what Mrs. Fitzherbert was when young." 
And again, "She is all openness of heart, and has not a shadow 
of pride." ^ 

The Princess Caroline made no concealment of her- delight 
at the prospect of becoming Princess of Wales; she was not 
hypocritical enough to profess either respect or affection for 
her future husband; she had never seen him, but she knew all 
about him and his mode of life, and she asked many questions 
concerning matters on which it would have been better taste 
for her to have kept silence. She had heard the rumours of 
his marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert, but she regarded it as a 
left-handed marriage, and therefore of no account — the Ger- 
man view. There is a correspondence pubhshed, evidently 
spurious, in which the Prince is made to tell his future wife 
quite frankly that he can have neither love nor respect for her, 

1 Lord Malmesbury's "Memoirs." 

2 " Harcourt Papers." (The Hon. Mrs. Harcourt was the wife of General 
Harcourt.) 



t^ 




THE PRINCESS CAROLINE OF BRUNSWICK 

{From a Picture in the Palace at Brujtswick) 



THE FIRST SEPARATION 223 

that he is marrying simply to pay his debts, that all his heart 
is given to another woman, whom he regards as his wife, and 
that, if she consulted her happiness, it would be better for her 
not to come to England. The Princess is made to reply that 
what he had told her makes no difference, she knows her duty. 
These letters must be forgeries, for many genuine letters of the 
Prince to Lord Malmesbury are in existence, in which he urges 
the envoy to "set off instantly" and bring the Princess with all 
speed to England (probably his creditors were pressing), to 
which Lord Malmesbury replies that "not an hour shall be 
lost." Yet by this time, though Lord Malmesbury kept a 
discreet silence, many unflattering reports of the person, char- 
acter, and manners of the Princess Caroline were being circu- 
lated about the Enghsh Court, and must have reached the ears 
of the Prince of Wales. He heeded them not, for the articles of 
the marriage-treaty had been signed, and more important still, 
the Prince had received assurances that his debts would be 
paid in full. It was too late to draw back with dignity, even if 
he had been so minded. He probably did not care a straw for 
these rumours. It was not a wife he wanted, but money; and 
so long as the wife was the means of his getting the money, he 
cared for little else. He was already prejudiced against the 
Princess. The moment Lady Jersey knew that the marriage- 
treaty was signed, she left off poisoning the Prince's mind 
against Mrs. Fitzherbert, and concentrated all her energies on 
maligning his betrothed bride. She repeated and exaggerated 
all the gossip and scandal she could gather regarding the Princess 
CaroKne and her early life. Queen Charlotte, who was annoyed 
by the Prince's curt refusal of her niece, the Princess Louise, 
was also prejudiced against Princess Carohne. Years ago she 
had quarrelled with her mother, and was prepared to keep up 
the family feud with the daughter. She even consented to the 
appointment of Lady Jersey (though the relations between the 
Prince and that lady were notorious) as lady-in-waiting to the 
new Princess of Wales. 

Lord Malmesbury brought the Princess to England in July 
1795. Mrs. Harcourt had attended her from Hanover, and 
Lady Jersey went down to meet the Princess on her landing 
with smooth words on her hps, and malice and hatred in her 
heart. "Thus did she arrive in England, conducted by her 



224 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

bitterest enemy (a lady well practised in the arts of tormenting, 
insulting, and degrading a rival) to a husband half estranged 
already, with no protection but at court, where, if the King 
was disposed to take part against his heir-apparent, old resent- 
ments and recent disappointments rendered the Queen averse 
to the daughter of the Duchess of Brunswick." ^ 

The friendless Princess was alone; her mother had parted 
from her at Stade, and it was not permitted that any one of her 
country-women should come with her. Her habit of indiscreet 
confidences began at once. She confided to Lady Jersey on 
the road to London the tale of an early attachment to a man of 
inferior birth, and Lady Jersey afterwards repeated ev£ry word 
she had said with gross exaggerations to the Prince of Wales. 
The story of her arrival in London and her reception by the 
Prince of Wales is well known. As soon as the Princess arrived 
at St. James's Palace, Lord Malmesbury went to tell the Prince 
of Wales. He came immediately; it was noticed that he was 
agitated. What followed is best told by Lord Malmesbury: 
"I, according to the estabhshed etiquette, introduced (no one 
else being in the room) the Princess Caroline to him. She, 
very properly, in consequence of my saying that it was the right 
mode of proceeding, attempted to kneel to him. He raised her 
gracefully enough and embraced her, said barely one word, 
turned round, retired to a distant part of the apartment, and, 
calling to me, said: 'Harris, I am not well: pray get me a glass 
of brandy.' I said: 'Sir, had you not better have a glass of 
water?' Upon which he, much out of humour, said with an 
oath: 'No; I will go directly to the Queen.' And away he 
went." 

Surely there never was a stranger scene. The Princess, 
astounded at this extraordinary reception, exclaimed: "Mon 
Dieul is he always hke that?" Then she added, "I find him 
very fat, and not at all like the picture sent me." Lord 
Malmesbury tried to make excuses for him, but the Princess 
was much too shrewd to be imposed upon. She was much 
disappointed, not only with her reception, but with the person 
of her future husband, and she proceeded to make many more 
uncomplimentary remarks. 

1 Holland, op. cit. 



THE FIRST SEPARATION 225 

In the evening there was a small dinner party at St. James's, 
at which the Prince and his betrothed met again. The Princess 
had by now recovered her spirits; she was probably very ner- 
vous, she was certainly much excited, and not at all like what 
a modest bride should be. She talked incessantly. Lord 
Malmesbury speaks of her "flippant, ratthng, affected wit." 
She rallied the Prince before all the company on his well-known 
penchant with absolute lack of discretion. The Prince was 
disgusted. Some excuse must be made for the Princess on this 
occasion. She had already discovered the liaison between her 
future husband and Lady Jersey. It hurt her to the quick, and 
she assumed this air of pertness in order to pretend that she 
did not care. "The first moment I saw my jutur and Lady 
Jersey together I knew how it all was," she said later, "and I 
said to myself, 'Oh, very well.' I took my partie." ^ When 
the dinner was over the King and Queen, and the other members 
of the royal family, came to welcome the Princess. It was 
noticed that the King was cordial and affectionate, but the 
Queen was very cold. 

During the three days that elapsed between the arrival of 
the Princess Carohne and the marriage, the Prince of Wales 
was in a whirl of feeling and nervous agitation. He found his 
bride even less to his taste than Lady Jersey had predicted; he 
already dishked her, and this dislike, says Lord Malmesbury, 
"when left to herself the Princess had not the talent to remove, 
but by observing the same giddy manners and the same coarse 
sarcasm increased it until it became positive hatred." Yet it 
was not to Lady Jersey that the Prince's thoughts reverted, but 
to his discarded wife, Maria Fitzherbert. Not all the allure- 
ments of Lady Jersey, nor all the potations in which he -freely 
indulged, could dull the voice of conscience. His love for her 
had returned with tenfold force, and he shrank with abhorrence 
from doing her the wrong involved by this marriage, more 
especially doubtless because the bride was so httle to his Hking. 
He bitterly upbraided his father and mother for having urged 
him to marry. He cursed his own weakness in yielding. The 
King resented this vacillation, and said testily that he would 
take the responsibility of breaking off the marriage if the Prince 

1 Bury, op. cit. 



226 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

really wished it. But as this involved the non-payment of the 
Prince's debts, they were merely idle words. The Queen, who 
suspected the truth, contented herself by saying, "You know, 
George, it is for you to say whether you can marry the Princess 
or not," thus adroitly shifting the responsibihty off her own 
shoulders. The Prince lacked the courage to face the situation, 
yet he was torn between two opinions. The day before his 
marriage he rode down to Richmond, and galloped past Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's house, thus showing with whom his thoughts 
were. She saw him riding by; no doubt he intended that she 
should see him, and perhaps had she made any sign, even then, 
at the eleventh hour he would have broken off the match. 
But she made none. At the clubs bets were offered freely 
against the Prince's marriage coming off. The wagers were 
lost. 

The Prince of Wales was married to the Princess Caroline 
of Brunswick in the Chapel Royal, St. James's, on the evening 
of April 8, 1795. The marriage was celebrated with the usual 
state and magnificence, and with every sign of public rejoicing. 
Though the Princess did not please her husband, she had already 
won the favour of the populace. 

The Prince was in a highly nervous state all day, which 
increased as the hour of the ceremony drew near. On his way 
from Carlton House to the Chapel Royal, he said to his cham- 
berlain. Lord Moira, who was sitting opposite to him in the 
coach, "It is no use, Moira, I shall never love any woman but 
Fitzherbert." To this the discreet Lord Moira made no reply. 
The Prince's appearance and conduct in the Chapel Royal were 
much commented upon. He scarcely looked at his bride, and 
appea-red more like a victim going to the scaffold than a bride- 
groom to the altar. He was dazed and bewildered, and evi- 
dently under the influence of violent emotion. The Duke of 
Bedford, one of the two unmarried dukes who attended him to 
the altar, said he was under the influence of brandy. But this 
could hardly have been the only cause of his agitation, for he 
repeated the words coherently. If the Prince had been drinking 
it was in the hope that he might drown his conscience. Lord 
Holland comes nearer the truth when he says, "This manifest 
repugnance to the marriage was attributed by many at the time 
to remorse at the recollection of a similar ceremony which had 



THE FIRST SEPARATION 227 

passed between him and Mrs. Fitzherbert." ^ At one time the 
remembrance seemed to be too much for the Prince, for he rose 
from his knees in the midst of a prayer. The Archbishop 
paused : but the King stepped forward and whispered something 
to his son; the Prince kneh down again and the ceremony 
proceeded to the close without further interruption. 

After the marriage the King and Queen held a drawing- 
room. Then the Royal Family supped in private, and later 
the newly-married pair drove to Carlton House. So ended 
this unhappy day. 

The popular enthusiasm was great. The whole of London 
was illuminated, and the church bells were rung all over the 
kingdom. Even at Richmond, in the seclusion of Marble Hill, 
some echo of the popular rejoicings reached the ears of Mrs. 
Fitzherbert. She seems to have cherished a hope that the 
marriage would not take place, that even at the last hour the 
Prince would draw back and refuse to perjure himself. "Such 
implicit confidence and blind credulity did she place in him," 
says one, "that when Orlando Bridgeman, now Lord Bradford, 
went to inform Mrs. Fitzherbert of the Prince's marriage, she 
would not believe it until he swore that he himself had been 
present at the ceremony, and when he did so, she fainted 
away." ^ 

1 There are endless stories about what took place at the marriage. Lady 
Maria Stuart wrote that the Prince "looked like death." Wraxall, in his "Me- 
moirs," writes, " that the Duke and Duchess of Dorset, and the Duchess (Isabella) 
of Rutland, all of whom were present at the ceremony, told him that . . . Dr. 
Moore, then Archbishop of Canterbury, when reading the matrimonial service 
in the Chapel Royal, gave unequivocal proofs of his apprehension that some 
engagement of a moral or religious nature antecedently contracted b}' the Prince 
might form a bar to the union which he was about to celebrate; for when he 
came to the words relative to 'either knowing, of any impediment,' he laid down 
the book and looked earnestly for a second or two at the King, as well as at the 
royal bridegroom. The latter was much affected, and shed tears. Not content 
with this tacit allusion to the report, the Archbishop twice repeated the passage 
in which the Prince engages to live from that time in nuptial fidelity with his 
consort." 

2 Bury, op. cit. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE prince's will 

(1796) 

For some time after the marriage of the Prince of Wales to 
Princess Caroline of Brunswick, Mrs. Fitzherbert lived in 
retirement at Marble Hill. She suffered much in health and 
spirits; "her heart," she told a friend, "was almost broken." 
Her position as "wife yet no wife" was a difficult one truly, 
and had she followed her inclination, she would have continued 
in seclusion, or have left England for a time. But her retire- 
ment from the scene, as her friends and well-wishers reminded 
her, would be liable to misinterpretation. Why should she 
hide her head as one ashamed? After all she had done no 
wrong, the wrong had been done to her, and to withdraw alto- 
gether from the world would be to play into her enemies' hands, 
and give colour to the many baseless rumours circulated against 
her. So, upon reflection, she resolved to act in the same way 
as she had done after Fox's denial of her marriage in the House 
of Commons — to make no difference in her mode of life, to go 
about exactly as if nothing had taken place, and to let people 
say what they would. But it was easier in 1787 than in 1795; 
then she had her husband by her side, now she was alone. 
Nevertheless she braced herself to the effort, and the summer 
of the following year (1796) found her once more in London. 
Her house in Pall Mall had been given up, and in place of it 
she bought another, at the corner of Tilney Street and Park 
Lane. The entrance was in Tilney Street, but the house 
fronted Park Lane, separated from it by a tiny strip of garden. 
On the ground floor Mrs. Fitzherbert retained three rooms 
especially for her own use, a boudoir, bedroom, and dressing- 
room, the windows overlooking the Park.^ The house was 

1 This house, No. 6, Tilney Street, Park Lane, continued to be the London 
residence of Mrs. Fitzherbert for over forty years, from 1796 until her death in 

228 



THE PRINCE'S WILL 229 

admirably adapted for entertaining, and contained handsome 
reception rooms. These Mrs. Fitzherbert threw open to her 
friends, and they were soon filled. Very general sympathy was 
felt for her, combined with admiration for the quiet courage 
and dignity with which she bore her troubles. Many of her 
friends opined that she was well rid of the Prince. Her social 
position never stood better than in the year which followed the 
marriage of the Prince of Wales to Princess CaroHne, not even 
in 1787. In one respect it stood higher than then, for though 
abandoned by the Prince, the Royal Family, including the King 
and Queen, were her friends. Lord Stourton gives an authori- 
tative account of this period of Mrs. Fitzherbert's hfe. "One 
of her great friends and advisers. Lady Clermont, supported 
her on this trying occasion, and counselled her to rise above her 
feehngs and to open her house to the town of London. She 
adopted this advice, much as it cost her to do so, and all the 
fashionable world, including all the royal dukes, attended her 
parties. Upon this, as upon all occasions, she was principally 
supported by the Duke of York, with whom, through life, she 
was always united in the most friendly and confidential rela- 
tions." ^ 

Meanwhile the married life of the Prince and Princess of 
Wales, which had begun badly, was going from bad to worse. 
The Prince started with aversion, the Princess with indifference. 
Toleration and forbearance might have prevented disaster, but 
these quahties neither of them possessed. None the less, for 
the first few months the Princess honestly tried to do her best 
to win the Prince's affections. Her best, it must be confessed, 
was not very good; she could not curb the levity of her tempera- 
ment or the flippancy of her tongue. Her father had told her 

1837. It then passed into the possession of her adopted daughter, the Hon. 
Mrs. George Dawson Damer, nee Seymour, who lived there for many years. 
It afterwards became the property of the third Earl Manvers, and is now occu- 
pied by the Dowager Countess Manvers. By the courtesy of Lady Manvers 
I have seen the rooms that Mrs. Fitzherbert retained for her own use on 
the ground floor, with the windows fronting Park Lane. Except that the 
furniture is more modern, the rooms are unchanged from what they were in 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's day; a solitary relic remains in the shape of a jewel-box with 
the initials "G.R." In the dining-room there hangs a portrait of George IV. 
by Sir Thomas Lawrence and one of Mrs. Fitzherbert by Romney. The latter 
I reproduce in this book by the kind permission of Lord Manvers. 
1 Langdale, op. cit. 



230 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

"to observe everything and say nothing," but though she kept 
this saying constantly before her, she was always making 
remarks in pubhc, which were in the very worst of taste. A 
great many of them were about Mrs. Fitzherbert, whom she 
habitually designated as "Fat — fair — forty." She frequently 
ralhed the Prince on this subject, and, full of remorse as he was 
for his treatment of Mrs. Fitzherbert, the Princess's clumsy 
gaiety irritated him almost to madness. A few weeks after the 
marriage he asked Lord Malmesbury "what he thought of this 
sort of manners?" and bitterly reproached him for not having 
warned him about the Princess. Lord Malmesbury punctil- 
iously repHed that he had only received instructions from the 
King to conclude the marriage-treaty, and "such matters as 
manners" did not come within the scope of his commission. 
Yet even he began to reproach himself that he had not spoken 
in time, and to fear the worst. "It is impossible to foresee or 
conceive any comfort from this connection," he writes, "in 
which I lament very much having taken any share, however 
passive it was." ^ The differences between the ill-mated pair' 
were aggravated by Lady Jersey, who dehberately sought in 
every way to poison the mind of the Prince against the Princess, 
and to prejudice the Princess still further against her husband. 
She repeated to the Prince all the indiscreet and unflattering 
remarks which Caroline was perpetually making about the 
person and conduct of her husband; on the other hand, she 
flaunted her liaison with the Prince before his wife's eyes. 
The Princess determined to remove her lady-in-waiting, but 
she was at first unable to do so, for Lady Jersey had been placed 
about her by Queen Charlotte. The Queen seems to have 
used Lady Jersey as a sort of spy to inform her of the short- 
comings of her detested daughter-in-law. She "threw over Lady 
Jersey the segis of her own respectability; she frequently gave 
her private audiences, and afterwards set her down to play 
cards with the Princesses, her daughters — a proceeding at 
least pecuhar, for the Queen prided herself on the immaculate 
virtue of her intimate circle. At last the Princess made a 
formal complaint to the King. The good old King took his 
niece's part, and Lady Jersey was removed, despite the "jeers 

1 Malmesbury, op. cit. 



THE PRINCE'S WILL 



231 



of the Queen, who declared it was "all nonsense," and the 
opposition of the Prince of Wales. 

The Prince's sense of injury was increased by the debates 
in Parliament concerning his debts, and by what he considered 
to be the treachery of the King and the Government. He said 
he had been promised, if he married according to his father's 
wishes, that his debts would be discharged in full, and his in- 
come increased. The Duke of Clarence, speaking in the House 
of Lords, said: "He would not betray anything that passed in 
private conversation, but it was a matter of public notoriety 
that, before the marriage took place, it was stipulated that the 
Prince should, in the event of the union, be disencumbered of 
his debts." The result was very different. Pitt proposed that 
the Prince's income should be increased to ;^i2 5,ooo a year, 
exclusive of the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall; that all 
expenses of the marriage should be defrayed, and ;^2o,ooo be 
granted for the additional furnishing of Carlton House. But, 
on the other hand, he allotted nothing for the payment of the 
Prince's debts, and proposed that ;^73,ooo per annum should 
be deducted from the Prince's income by the Treasury until 
his debts were paid, thus bringing the Prince's available in- 
come down to a modest figure. Against this the Prince pro- 
tested in vain. Parliament viewed both him and his debts 
with marked disapproval, and^ at last, the Prince had to take 
what he could get. As the Duke of Clarence expressed it in 
the House of Lords, "His royal brother was in the situation 
of a man who, if he cannot get a particular haunch of veni- 
son, will take any other haunch rather than go without." But 
the Prince was not satisfied with his haunch; he again made 
an ostentatious parade of his poverty; he gave no entertain- 
ments; he reduced his household, and sulked both in public 
and private. 

. The unfortunate Princess was not to blame for the bad 
faith of the King and the Government, but it seems to have 
increased the Prince's resentment against her. His debts were 
not paid, and he was burdened with a wife whom he detested. 
Quarrels now became frequent, for the Princess had a high 
spiri-t, and was quick to retort. There were faults on both 
sides, but on the Prince's side the blame was the greater. Still, 
a semblance of union was kept up between the unhappy pair 



232 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

until the birth of the Princess Charlotte, which took place 
on January 7, 1796, exactly nine months after the marriage. 
The Prince was present at the birth, and he behaved with 
much good feeling. He received with satisfaction the con- 
gratulations of the great officers of state, who were in 
attendance, on the birth of an heiress presumptive to the 
throne. To the Prince the birth of this child meant some- 
thing more than that ; it meant his deliverance from an almost 
insupportable thraldom. In any case, the Prince would have 
disliked his wife, for they were quite unsuited to one another, 
but into his dislike there entered an element of physical re- 
pulsion which he could not (even if he would) overcome. The 
Prince had unequalled powers of self-deception; by this time 
he had persuaded himself that he had married the Princess of 
Wales, not because he wished to obtain the payment of his 
debts, but from patriotism and a sense of duty. He had sacri- 
ficed his own inclinations in order to provide for the direct suc- 
cession to the throne. Now that purpose was accomphshed, 
there was no need to continue the sacrifice, and he determined 
to escape from an intolerable situation without delay. He 
had been forced into this detested marriage, a victim of 
political expediency. In his eyes, it was merely a marriage 
of state, conferring no obligations on him beyond the one he 
had fulfilled. 

The day after the birth of the Princess Charlotte the Prince 
was seized with one of his sudden and mysterious attacks of 
illness, brought on, no doubt, by the agitation and excitement 
consequent on the event. The attack, which was very violent, 
was treated as usual with profuse bleeding, which left him in a 
state of extreme weakness. The Prince was, or thought that 
he was, in danger of his life; and his thoughts flew back to the 
woman whom he loved more than any one else in the world, the 
woman whom he still regarded as his wife, Maria Fitzherbert. 
He was full of remorse for the wrong he had done her, the sin 
of it lay heavy on his soul, and his conscience prompted him to 
make her all possible amends. As soon as he had rallied a 
little, he drew up the following will in her favour, acknowledging 
her to be his wife, and leaving her everything he had in the 
world: — 



THE PRINCE'S WILL 233 

" This is my last Will and Testament, written in my own hand, 
and executed by me, signed and sealed this loth day of 
January, in the year of Our Lord 1796. 

"George P.^ 



Seal 



"By this, my last Will and Testament, I now bequeathe, 
give, and settle at my death all my worldly property of every 
description, denomination and sort, personal and other, to my 
Maria Fitzherhert, my Wife, the Wife of my heart and soul? 
Although by the laws of this country she could not avail herself 
publicly of that name, still such she is in the eyes of Heaven, 
was, is, and ever will he such in mine. And for the truth of 
which assertion I appeal to that Gracious God Whom I have 
here invoked to witness this my last disposition of my property, 
together with such explanations and declarations as are neces- 
sary for me to make, to enable me to quit this life with a clear 
conscience, and even without a sigh, except at the thought of 
leaving Her (and perhaps too without first receiving the blessing 
of her forgiveness), who is my real and true Wife, and who is 
dearer to me, even milhons of times dearer to me, than that 
life I am now going to resign. 

"As much has been said in the world relative to our sepa- 
ration, I take it upon myself now thus to declare that She (my 
Maria Fitzherbert) has been most infamously traduced; that 
her Person, her Heart, and her Mind are, and ever have been, 
from the first moment I knew her down to the present moment, 
as spotless, as unblemished, and as perfectly pure as anything 
can be that is human and mortal. Had it not been for the 
most infamous and basest of calumnies, my too credulous and 
susceptible heart, which knew no other feeling in hfe but for 

1 This will, the most interesting of the Fitzherbert papers, is the document 
marked on Langdale's hst {op. cit. p. 87), "No. 4, Will written by the late King 
George IV." I am permitted to quote from it the above extracts (all that re- 
lates to Mrs. Fitzherbert) by gracious permission of his Majesty the King. 
This will, written in 1796, was given by the Prince of Wales to Mrs. Fitzherbert 
in 1799, and was always kept by her in a sealed packet. This packet was 
endorsed by her, "In case of my death, this packet not to be opened, upon any 
account whatever, but by the person I shall appoint by my will." In 1833 
Mrs. Fitzherbert placed this packet, with other papers, at Coutts's Bank, 
where it remained until 1905, when it was removed, with the rest, to the private 
archives at Windsor. 

2 The italics are everywhere those of the Prince. 



234 



MRS. FITZHERBERT 



Her, could never have been brought, even for a single instant, 
to harbour a thought of separating from such Worth; nor was 
such a suspicion (O my God, as Thou well knowest !) voluntarily 
sought by me. (But as entering further upon this point would 
involve others whom I pray Heaven to forgive, and lead to 
more than I am now able to write, I shall bury this in obhvion.) 

"As to Her (I must, in justice to myself, so far say), I am 
most confident that had not similar vile, base, and scandalous 
wretches calumniated me to Her, and represented me in hghts, 
and in a manner, I here aver, I have never deserved, she never 
could, or would, have persevered with such apparent cruelty 
and obduracy so foreign to the generous feehngs of her soul, in 
rejecting for so great a length of time, every explanation, every 
submission, every step my tortured heart frequently tried, and 
was most ready and anxious, to make, and which finally drove 
me to despair. 

"I now therefore, George Augustus Frederick, Prince of 
Wales, Duke of Cornwall, &c. &c. &c. do by this my last 
Will and Testament leave, will, and bequeathe after my death, 
all my Estates, all my Property, all my Personahties of whatever 
kind or sort to my Maria Fitzherbert, who is my wife in the eyes 
of God, and who is, and ever will he, such in mine. . . } 

"I desire to mention Miss Pigot,^ who has been so uniformly 
kind and attentive in her conduct both to my Maria Fitzherbert 
as well as to me that it is quite impossible that we must not 
both of us feel most tenderly for her. I consequently did all 
that was in my power whilst I enjoyed life for her, by setthng 
five hundred pounds annually on her during the natural course 
of my Life. I therefore do not doubt that my Maria Fitzherbert 
will try to make her easy and comfortable, unless she should 
first, through the interests of my Family, who are all acquainted 
with Miss Pigot, and with my regard for her, procure her a 
comfortable maintenance for the rest of her fife as one of the 

1 Here follows a long, detailed description of the Prince's estates, property, 
and personalities, which included all the money at his bankers', certain land 
near Carlton House not the property of the Crown, all the furniture and pictures 
at Carlton House, all the plate, china, wines, books, pictures, "all my rings, 
trinkets, watches, boxes," all the land in or about the Pavihon at Brighton, all 
the property and furniture in the Pavilion and in the next house to it, all the 
horses and carriages, "in short, every article of property that is mine." 

'2 Miss Pigot was the elderly lady who had lived with Mrs. Fitzherbert as 
dame de compagnie since her marriage to the Prince of Wales in 1785. 




MRS. FITZHERBERT 

[From a Painting by George Cosway, R.A., by permission of 
Lady Blanche Haygarth) 



THE PRINCE'S WILL 235 

Housekeepers in one of the Royal Palaces and which will place 
her in an easy and respectable independence for the rest of her 
days. 

"My Friend, the Earl of Moira, who I have ever most 
affectionately loved, will I trust not object, as the last testimony 
of his tried and long experienced regard, to the being my Exe- 
cutor, and to the seeing of this my Will most scrupulously ad- 
hered to. And that he together with [Admiral] Payne will 
guard and protect during their hves for the sake of their de- 
parted Friend my beloved and adored Maria Fitzherbert, my 
Wife, in short my Second Self. 

"Having now I trust made all the restitution that is in my 
power to this most excellent Woman, there only remains for me 
to hope that when she is made acquainted with this entire and 
free disposition of my Property to Her, of this my candid avowal 
and of the just tribute I have paid to her merit, she will no 
longer withhold her forgiveness from me, accompanying it with 
her blessing. I assure her as I now do, that I shall die blessing 
her, my only true and real Wife, with my parting breath, and 
praying the Almighty and Most Merciful Being, to whom in 
this paper I have opened the innermost recesses of my heart 
and of my soul, to bless, protect, and guard her through this 
life, looking forward to the moment when our Souls in a better 
world may again be united, never more to part. 

" I desire that I may be buried with as little pomp as possible, 
and that my constant companion, the picture of my beloved Wife, 
my Maria Fitzherbert, may be interred with me, suspended 
round my neck by a ribbon as I used to wear it when I Hved, 
and placed right upon my heart} , I likewise wish and desire 
of my adored Maria Fitzherbert that, whenever she quits this 
life and is interred, my coffin should be taken up and placed 
next to hers, wherever she is to be buried. And, if she has no 
objection, that the two inward sides of the two coffins should 
be taken out, and the coffins should then be soldered together, 
as the late King's and Queen's were.^ It is therefore my wish 
to be buried not in my Family Vault, but anywhere, as privately 
as possible, in order that my ashes may repose in quiet, until 
they are placed next to hers, or united with hers. 

' We shall see that this request was literally carried out later. 

2 George II. and Queen Caroline were buried like this in Westminster Abbey. 



236 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

"Having thus closed the scene of a life most full of trouble 
and misery, I have now only to bid a last farewell to Her who 
whilst She and I were One did constitute the sole and only 
happiness of that hfe I am now going to resign. None have I 
enjoyed since we separated, and none would I ever expect to 
enjoy under any circumstances whatever, unless we were once 
more to be united. To Her therefore my Maria, my Wife, my 
Life, my Soul do I bid my last adieu. 

"Written and signed by me with my own hand. 

"George P.^ 

"Carlton House, Jany. 10, 1796." 



Seal 



Two days later the Prince added the following codicil : — 
"In looking over the foregoing sheets I perceive I have 
omitted a circumstance of the utmost importance to my peace 
and quiet, and that is, that in the beginning of the last year or 
quite at the end of the preceding year, in consequence of an 
apphcation from me to the King, through Lord Loughborough, 
that his Majesty would be so gracious (in case of my death 
before my Maria Fitzherhert) as to be pleased to continue to 
her for her Life the settlement I had for some years, before, 
made upon Her of three thousand pounds annually during the 
natural term of my Life. The Chancellor by the gracious 
command of the King wrote to me, in consequence, that his 
Majesty did not think such an event likely to happen, but in 
case that it should be so that he would be answerable for it, 
which claims my warmest acknowledgments, nor am I ac- 
quainted with language sufficiently energetick to express half 
what I feel to the King for this instance of his paternal and 

1 Yet it was of the man who could write this document that Thackeray- 
declared: "I know of no sentiment he ever distinctly uttered. Documents are 
published under his name, but people wrote them — private letters, but people 
spelt them. He put a great George P. or George R. at the bottom of the page 
and fancied he had written the paper; some bookseller's clerk, some poor author, 
some man did the work; saw to the spelling, cleaned up the slovenly sentences 
and gave the lax maudlin slipslop a sort of consistency" ("The Four Georges"). 
Fortunately, apart from this document, which was written by the Prince alone, 
without help, there exists many private letters, published and unpublished, 
written by him with his own hand, which give the lie to this statement. Many 
of these letters are admirably written, perfectly correct in spelling and expressed 
with grace and felicity of diction. Except for a certain redundance of expression 
he was an admirable letter-writer. 



THE PRINCE'S WILL 237 

gracious goodness and consideration: if I did I should endeavour 
to express, though faintly, the gratefulness of my heart. My 
mind therefore is quite at rest on this circumstance, as I place 
the fullest and most ample rehance and faith in this, the King's 
most kind and gracious promise. Lord Loughborough's own 
letter (of which I received a copy written in Miss Pigot's hand, 
and which will be found amongst my papers) I gave to Miss 
Pigot to dehver to my Maria Fitzherbert, which I entertain not 
the slightest doubt but she did. In which event it is in the 
possession of my Maria Fitzherbert. But supposing that she 
[Miss Pigot] may not have done so, or that it may not have 
been in her power to do so, then it must be in her's. This was 
a circumstance which escaped my memory, and was of such 
serious import, and of so essential a nature to my feehngs, that 
I should have deemed myself guilty of the most unpardonable 
and scandalous neglect, if, upon the revision of all I have here 
written, I had omitted it, especially as it tells so much for the 
honour, and is for the interest, of all parties. It also testifies to 
what I owe in gratitude (and which I trust my heart has never 
in any instance been deficient in) to the King as my Father. 

"George P. 



Seal 



"Carlton House, Jany. 12, 1796." 
" The whole of this Paper is written, signed and sealed by 
my own hand. So help me God. "C force P " 



Seal 



The question forces itself upon us: Was the Prince sincere 
when he wrote this will ? There is no doubt that he was abso- 
lutely sincere. He wrote it at a time when he believed himself 
to be in danger of his life, and to right a wrong he had done to 
a woman whom he truly loved. Men do not He to themselves 
at such a time. It was at once his confession and his apologia; 
a human document which reveals the man as he was, weak and 
emotional maybe, but very far removed from the heartless 
voluptuary his enemies have depicted him. He did not write 
it for pubhcation, nor with the object of enticing Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert to return to him. Not until three and a half years later 
(when she had already promised to return subject to the sanction 
of her Church) did the Prince show her this will. That he acted 



238 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

deliberately, and not on the impulse of the moment, in making 
it is shown by the fact that he also made two copies of it — one 
he gave to the King under his seal, and one to Lord Moira, whom 
he had appointed his executor. The original draft he kept him- 
self — it was the one he later gave to Mrs. Fitzherbert. The 
document gains a special significance from the date on which it 
was written, three days after the birth of the heiress presump- 
tive to the throne. In the light of subsequent events it would 
seem to have been the first step the Prince took to escape from a 
condition of affairs that had become intolerable to him. 

The second step was not long in coming. The Princess 
Charlotte was christened on February 11, 1796, and the Princess 
of Wales was declared to be convalescent. The Prince of Wales 
removed from Carlton House to Windsor Castle, and a few 
weeks later came the inevitable separation. The Princess has 
herself given the following account of what happened to a 
friend: "Well, after I lay in — je vous jure 'tis true, upon my 
honour, upon my soul 'tis true — I receive a message through 
Lord Cholmondeley to tell me I never was to have de great 
honour of inhabiting de same room wid my husband again. 
I said : ' Very well, but as my memory was very short, I begged 
to have dis polite message in writing from him.' I had it, and 
was free." ^ The letter the Prince wrote to his wife on this 
occasion has been often quoted, but we repeat it here. 

"Madam, — As Lord Cholmondeley informs me that you 
wish I would define, in writing, the terms upon which we are 
to live, I shall endeavour to explain myself on that head, with 
as much clearness, and with as much propriety as the nature 
of the subject will admit. Our inclinations are not in our 
power, nor should either of us be held answerable to the other, 
because nature has not made us suitable to each other. Tran- 
quil and comfortable society is, however, in our power; let our 
intercourse, therefore, be restricted to that, and I will distinctly 
subscribe to the condition which you required through Lady 
Cholmondeley, that even in the event of any accident happening 
to my daughter (which I trust Providence in its mercy will 
avert), I shall not infringe the terms of the restriction by propos- 
ing, at any period, a connection of a more particular nature. I 

1 Bury, op. cit. 



THE PRINCE'S WILL 239 

shall now finally close this disagreeable correspondence, trusting 
that, as we have completely explained ourselves to each other, 
the rest of our hves will be passed in uninterrupted tranquilhty. 
I am. Madam, with great truth, very sincerely yours, 

"Windsor Castle, April 30, 1796." GeorGE P. 

The Princess waited a week before replying to this letter, and 
then she wrote in French, agreeing to her husband's terms. But 
she said "the credit of this arrangement belongs to you alone," 
and she declared that it would be her duty to give "an example of 
patience and resignation under every trial," a declaration which 
was no more fulfilled than her husband's hope that "the rest of 
our lives may be passed in uninterrupted tranquilhty." 

The Princess, whose pride was much wounded by this 
cavalier treatment, first thought of returning to Brunswick to 
her parents, and then, for she was a woman of many moods, of 
appealing to the King to bring about a reconciliation. The 
King did make the attempt, but he found that the Prince dis- 
liked his wife too intensely to listen to any proposal on the 
subject. The Princess could not be expected to understand 
that she inspired her husband with positive disgust; she did not 
entertain the same feeling towards him, though she did not 
like him. She had a quick temper and a ready tongue; she 
did not mean half what she said ; she spoke in haste and repented 
at leisure, and she thought that the Prince was like her. Though 
she had agreed to the separation, she could not believe that the 
estrangement would be permanent. For a time she kept a 
suite of rooms at Carlton House as a pied a terre, but the Prince 
would not cross the threshold of his palace while she was there, 
so at last she retired to a villa at Charlton near Blackheath. 
She was allowed free access to her daughter, and attended the 
drawing-rooms at St. James's and other Court ceremonies. 
The King treated her with unvarying kindness and respect, 
and public feeling was wholly on her side; in fact she bid fair 
to become the idol of the populace. Whenever the Princess 
appeared in public she was cheered to the echo, and she eagerly 
welcomed these popular demonstrations in her favour. It was 
natural for her to do so, but indiscreet, as it added to her hus- 
band's dislike an element of jealousy. 

So matters continued for two years, and still the Princess 



240 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

did not give up all hope of a reconciliation, the more so as for 
a long time the Prince had showed unmistakable signs of having 
wearied of Lady Jersey. The Princess persisted in regarding 
Lady Jersey as the cause of her troubles, whereas she was only 
an incident in them. The Prince's manner towards his former 
favourite was cold and distant, and he avoided her upon every 
possible occasion; indeed he had never been intimate with her 
since his separation from the Princess of Wales. There was 
no open rupture, for Lady Jersey obstinately refused to take 
any hint, however broad, of the Prince's desire to be rid of her; 
he on his part was unwilling, or afraid, to quarrel publicly with 
her. The Prince was much embarrassed by the persistence of 
the lady, and he employed one of his friends, Edward Jerning- 
ham, "The Poet," to give her a strong hint to leave him alone. 
Edward Jerningham went to see Lady Jersey, whom he found 
"very artful." Rewrites: — 

"Lady Jersey is now in the Transit of Venus. It was very 
evident her reign was drawing to its Period. I believe I have 
mentioned this circumstance before, but the singularity attend- 
ing the progression of this affair is that the Lady will not ac- 
knowledge any difference or diminution of regard on his side. 
This embarrasses the Prince exceedingly, as he wishes to let her 
down gently, and to separate amicably, which he thinks cannot 
be done if he should dismiss her in town, and unequivocally. I 
have given her intimations and broad suggestions which she 
will not understand, or at least does not seem to understand." ^ 

Though Lady Jersey refused to admit it, she must have 
known in her heart that her day was over. The Prince made 
no secret that he was weary of her. She had appealed wholly 
to his senses, and his senses were surfeited. The Princess of 
Wales, who from afar watched every movement of her husband 
with keen interest, rejoiced greatly at the downfall of her 
enemy, but she soon discovered that she would not be the 
gainer. The Prince's heart had long since gone back to the 
only woman he ever loved, the woman who still regarded herself 
as his wife, Maria Fitzherbert. 

1 Letter of Mr. Edward Jerningham to the Hon. Lady Jerningham (1798). 
"Jerningham Letters." 



CHAPTER XVIII 

REUNION 

(1796-1800) 

The Prince of Wales separated from Mrs. Fitzherbert in 
June 1794; in April 1795 he married the Princess of Wales; 
in April 1796 he separated from her; in June 1796 he was 
eagerly trying to renew marital relations with Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
Since their parting, Mrs. Fitzherbert had avoided the Prince 
in every possible way. She did not answer his letters, she did 
not heed his messages, and she went to no entertainment, 
public or private, where he was likely to be present. She 
regarded the separation as complete. By his second union he 
had placed, she considered, an insuperable barrier between 
them. She knew, of course, for the story was common property, 
of the unhappiness of his married life. For the Princess of 
Wales she felt nothing but compassion. She knew also of the 
Prince's coolness to Lady Jersey, but she made no sign to 
remind him of her existence. She kept a brave face to the 
world, and tried to live her life as though nothing had happened. 
Except for a month or two in the season she was little in London ; 
she had given up Brighton, and disposed of the lease of Marble 
Hill. The greater part of the year she spent in comparative 
retirement at a villa she had bought at Castle Hill, Ealing. 
There she sought, if not happiness, peace. 

But peace was not to be her lot. No sooner had the Prince 
separated from the Princess of Wales, than he began to make 
overtures to Mrs. Fitzherbert, sending her messages through 
friends and so forth. To these she turned a deaf ear, but her 
reticence made no difference to the Prince. She soon found 
herself again exposed to difficulties and embarrassments from 
his constant pursuit. He became definite in his demands, and 
first through the medium of friends, and then directly, he 
eagerly pressed her to resume their former relations. At first 

R 241 



V 



242 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

she scouted the idea. "The hnk once broken could never be 
rejoined," she said, but the Prince refused to take "No" for 
an answer. Again he wrote her letters of great length — pages 
and pages full of self-reproach and passionate pleading for her 
to return to him. He was now alone. He had separated from 
the Princess, and broken with Lady Jersey. He pleaded his 
lonely position; he was full of remorse for the past, full of 
promises for the future. There was nothing he would not do 
if his " dear wife" would only hsten to his prayer. He declared 
his ill-treatment of her was a brief madness, and if she would 
only take him back it would be the object of his life to atone for 
the past. He meant it in all sincerity. Still she would not 

Hsten. 

When the Princess of Wales heard of this — she heard of 
everything connected with her husband, and commented freely; 
it was one of her indiscretions — she said to a friend of the 
Prince, "She hoped her husband would not feel her any impedi- 
ment to the reconcihation he was so desirous for." Shortly 
after, this gentleman, who was one of the Prince's household, 
told her he had given the "message" to the Prince, who ex- 
claimed, "Did she say so? Indeed she is very good-natured." 
No doubt the "message" was repeated to Mrs. Fitzherbert 
with additions. Before long the Princess heard that she was 
being represented as taking an active part in bringing the 
Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert together again, and the Prince had 
commented upon her "message" as one more proof of her 
indehcacy. "Indehcacy, indeed!" she exclaimed, "and I v/on- 
der who could say such a thing, or suppose I could ever have 
thought it? All I said was, that I hoped / did not stand in 
the way of his happiness." This denial was somewhat equivo- 
cal, especially when it is remembered that the Princess was 
always talking about Mrs. Fitzherbert, and her secret marriage 
to the Prince of Wales. From the beginning she had shown 
great inquisitiveness on this subject, which it would have been 
more dignified for her to have ignored. But the Princess's 
curiosity was not dictated by mahce, for she had always a 
kindly feeling for the "morganatic wife," whom she considered 
to have been much ill-treated (like herself) by the Prince. 

So matters went on for nearly three years, the Prince growmg 
ever more passionate in his entreaties to Mrs. Fitzherbert to 



REUNION 



243 



rejoin him. He declared she was the only one who could save 
him from himself, and she, the woman who loved him, began 
to waver. She still regarded herself as the Prince's wife, and 
a reconcihation, after his profession of penitence and sorrow, 
was the logical consequence of such reasoning. In 1799 she 
seems at last to have given a half-promise, through Admiral 
Payne, to rejoin the Prince; but upon reflection she withdrew 
it. This vacillation brought the Prince to a state bordering on 
desperation. On June 13, 1799, when staying at Windsor 
Castle, he wrote her a letter, which had the nature of an ulti- 
matum. He reproached her with having withdrawn her prom- 
ise; he reminded her of her marriage vows (inconsistently 
enough, for it was he who had broken them) ; he declared that 
he could no longer endure the misery of the last five years, 
and he vowed that if she still refused a reconciliation he would 
pubKcly proclaim his marriage with her, be the consequences 
what they might. It was in this letter that the Prince made 
the declaration (already quoted) concerning witnesses to his 
marriage. 

"Think not," said he, "that prayer or any advice whatever 
will make me delay my purpose, or forswear my oath. Thank 
God, my witnesses are living — your uncle, and your brother, 
besides Harris, who I shall call upon as having been informed 
by me of every, even the minutest, circumstances of our mar- 
riage." 

This letter the Prince sent by the hand of the Duke of 
Cumberland, and demanded an immediate answer. It threw 
Mrs. Fitzherbert into a state of great anxiety and alarm. She 
knew that the Prince, if driven to despair, was capable of doing 
any foolish thing, and of all foohsh things the public declaration 
of his marriage with her at this juncture would be the worst. 
To the Prince it would probably mean ruin; he had already 
made himself intensely unpopular by his separation from the 
Princess of Wales. The King was on the side of his daughter- 
in-law, the people adored her, and the Government was hostile 
to the Prince. If he now pubhcly avowed his previous marriage 
to a Roman CathoHc, that marriage, whether legal or illegal, 
would be regarded as an additional wrong to the Princess of 
Wales, and public opinion would not brook the scandal. It 
might be seized upon as a pretext to deprive the Prince of his 



244 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

succession to the throne, and in any event, could not fail to 
weaken his title. Much though Mrs. Fitzherbert desired that 
the truth concerning her marriage should be made known, she 
did not desire it at the cost of the Prince's ruin. And there 
were others involved as well. The clergyman was dead, but 
her uncle and her brother who had acted as witnesses to the 
ceremony were living, and might be subjected to the penalties 
of premunire — banishment and confiscation of property. It 
may be doubted if public opinion would have tolerated these 
penalties being enforced; but to Mrs. Fitzherbert's excited 
imagination, she already saw her relatives ruined and sent out 
of the country. So far as her brother. Jack Smythe, was con- 
cerned, this would not have mattered much; he had no property 
to be confiscated — he was a ne'er-do-well, always worrying 
his sister for money, a,nd she and the country would be well rid 
of him. But her uncle, Mr. Errington, was a man of honour 
and integrity, the owner of large property and an ancient name. 
She could not bear to think of the possibilty of bringing sorrow 
on his grey hairs, and ruin and disgrace. So she temporised 
with the Prince. She wrote to him, promising to reconsider 
the matter, and holding out a hope that she would meet his 
wishes if he would promise to do nothing until he heard from 
her again. With this answer the Prince was fain to be satisfied, 
but he warned her that he would not wait long. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert's position was one of great difiiculty. Her 
heart cried one way and her better judgment the other. The 
Prince's reasoning regarding her marriage vows, illogical though 
it was, carried great weight with her. She had promised to 
take him "for better for worse," and though it had been very 
much for worse, she was not a woman to set her marriage vows 
lightly aside. She regarded herself as the Prince's true wife by 
the law of her Church. Still, by the law of the land, she re- 
membered that the Prince of Wales was married to the Princess 
Caroline, who was legally and beyond all doubt the Princess of 
Wales; the mother of his child. In law Mrs. Fitzherbert was 
nothing more to him than if she had been his mistress, and her 
soul revolted at such a position. While she was thus hesitating, 
every influence was brought to bear on her to return to the 
Prince. Her own family were strongly in favour of a reconcilia- 
tion. Several members of the royal family, including all the 



REUNION 245 

royal dukes, and the Princesses Augusta and Mary, urged her 
to rejoin the Prince, and even said it was her duty to do so. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert was also privately assured of the Queen's 
countenance and support. (The Queen, indeed, hated the 
Princess of Wales so much that she would have done anything 
against her.) 

But the approval of the Queen and royal family and of her 
relatives and friends, was not enough to satisfy Mrs. Fitzherbert 
in a matter where her conscience was concerned. The subse- 
sequent marriage of the Prince had made the question of her 
return to him one of extreme difficulty; even her spiritual 
director hesitated to pronounce an opinion upon it. So, after 
much consideration, Mrs. Fitzherbert resolved to submit the 
whole case to the judgment of the highest authorities of her 
Church, and to be guided by their decision. She wrote to the 
Prince and told him that she must first appeal to Rome, and 
the Prince, however impatient he might be at this further delay, 
had again to submit. 

But they appear to have met about this time, and local 
tradition has it that the first meeting between the Prince of 
Wales and Mrs. Fitzherbert, after their separation in 1794, 
took place at Kempshott, in Hampshire. Mrs. Fitzherbert 
went down to Red Rice to consult her uncle, Mr. Errington, 
and the Prince followed her to Kempshott hard by. A dinner 
was arranged, at which they were to discuss the terms of their 
reconciliation, and Mrs. Fitzherbert drove over to Kempshott 
from Red Rice. As it was thought that a iete-a-tete dinner 
would be awkward, Sir Henry Rycroft, who owned Kempshott, 
and was a friend of both of them, was invited to make a third. 
One would think that the diner a trois must have been still 
more awkward, especially for Sir Henry. But as he was there 
pour les convenances, he probably knew when to efface himself 
judiciously.^ 

Shortly after this meeting the Reverend William Nassau, 
one of the priests of the Roman Catholic church in Warwick 
Street, the church which Mrs. Fitzherbert attended in London, 
was commissioned by her to make a special journey to Rome 
in order to lay her case before the Holy See. It was understood 

1 1 am indebted to Lady Dorothea Rycroft for this story. 



246 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

that if permission were granted to her, she would rejoin the 
Prince of Wales; but if it were refused, she determined to quit 
England and live abroad; the only way in which she could 
escape his importunities. The mission to Rome took some 
time, and meanwhile Mrs. Fitzherbert retired to a small water- 
ing-place in Wales, having first obtained from the Prince a 
promise that he would not follow her there. 

At last. Father Nassau returned, and brought with him a 
Papal Brief, sealed with the seal of the Fisherman. This 
document declared that the Supreme Pontiff had considered 
the case of Maria Fitzherbert. He pronounced her to be the 
wife of the Prince of Wales according to the law of the Church ; 
she was, therefore, free to rejoin her husband if he were truly 
penitent for his sins and sincere in his promises of amendment. 
The decision of Rome was intended for Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
satisfaction alone; it was therefore kept a secret, as the marriage 
had always been. The Prince had nothing to do with the ap- 
peal, though he availed himself of the decision. Nothing 
would have induced him to admit that he had consented to 
Rome arbitrating on his behalf. He knew that it would affront 
beyond measure the Protestant feehng in the country. 

The mission to Rome and the decision of the Papal Court 
on Mrs. Fitzherbert's case must have taken place some time 
between June 1799 and the end of the year. They were 
privately reconciled soon after the Brief was received, for in 
December we find the Prince of Wales writing to her from 
Carlton House in his usual strain of devotion, and sending her 
a copy of the will which he had made in her favour nearly four 
years before. 

". . . As to the Paper I have put unto your hands," he 
writes, "it was with no view of distressing your feelings that I 
entrusted it to you. That I wished you to be acquainted with 
the contents I most certainly did, and next to the rehef I felt 
when I had finished it, and which certainly did restore me in a 
manner to fife after a precarious and most dangerous illness, 
the greatest relief to my heart would be the knowing that you 
had perused it. . . . Think not, my Angel, that there is one 
unkind expression about you contained in the whole of it, so, 
believe me, nothing could be further from the writer's heart 
and mind both then and now (though it is now within a few 




MRS. FITZriERBERT'S HOUSE IN TILNEY STREET 
(As seen from Park Lane') 



REUNION 247 

days of four years since it was written), and indeed at all times, 
than a thought of that nature. How I have ever loved and 
adored you God only knows, and how I do now He also knows, 
and you cannot pretend to be ignorant of or disbelieve. I have 
no secrets from you. . . ." ^ 

Though Mrs. Fitzherbert, as soon as she received permission 
from Rome, became reconciled to the Prince, she did not pub- 
Hcly rejoin him until some time later.^ At first they only met 
in private, but soon after the New Year (1800) they began to 
appear in pubhc together. These meetings occasioned much 
comment, but they prepared men's minds for the formal recon- 
cihation that was to follow. Lady Jerningham, a Roman 
Catholic, wrote: "The affair of Mrs. Fitzherbert and the Prince 
becomes very incomprehensible; it is a fact that he meets her 
whenever he can, and a conversation ensues that takes them 
both out of the company. On Saturday, Lady Kenmare tells 
me, that Mrs. Fitzherbert, Mrs. Butler, and the Prince were in 
a high box all night in conversation; the Princess at the Opera 
and also Lady Jersey. I comprehend it no longer, for I had 
thought Mrs. Fitzherbert a woman of principle." ^ 

But before long the bewilderment of Lady Jerningham and 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's other Roman Catholic friends ceased. Her 
director saw to that. They were given to understand the nature 
of the communication from Rome, and there was nothing more 
to be said. By every Roman Cathohc in the kingdom, who 
knew the circumstances, she was regarded as the canonical wife 
of the Prince of Wales. 

In June 1800 Mrs. Fitzherbert was formally and openly 
reconciled to the Prince. On an appointed day she gave a 
"pubhc breakfast" at her house in Tilney Street "to meet his 
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales," and to it she invited all 
her friends, who came in great numbers. There were white 
roses everywhere; the rooms and the tables were decorated 

1 Extract from a Letter of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales to Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
dated Cariton House, December ii, 1799. 

2 Among the many propitiatory offerings the Prince sent Mrs. Fitzherbert at 
this time was a small gold bracelet, to which was attached a locket of bloodstone 
and turquoise. Inside the locket was a painting of his right eye, said to be by 
Cosway, and the words Rejoindre ou Mourir were engraved on the bracelet. 
This trinket is now in the possession of Lady Horatia Erskine. 

3 " Jerningham Letters," op. cii. 



248 • MRS. FITZHERBERT 

with them, and the hostess carried a bouquet of the same 
flowers. This breakfast proclaimed to the fashionable world 
of London that her relations with the Prince were resumed on 
the old footing. Mrs. Fitzherbert afterwards told Lord Stour- 
ton "she hardly knew how she could summon up resolution to 
pass that severe ordeal, but she thanked God she had the courage 
to do so." It certainly required courage, and was perhaps the 
best way of letting her friends know that she and the Prince were 
reconciled — a way in keeping with her frank and open nature. 
But the occasion was hardly one for rejoicing, and, under the 
circumstances, "a pubhc breakfast" seems in doubtful taste. ^ 

The Prince now, as before, let it be known that Mrs. 
Fitzherbert should always be invited to any private entertain- 
ment which he honoured with his presence, and he quitted two 
parties abruptly because his wishes had not been complied with. 
As before, he treated her in public with the most ceremonious 
respect. Miss Cornelia Knight writes that in November 1800 
she was present at a concert at Lady Macartney's, "where I 
saw the Prince of Wales handing in Mrs. Fitzherbert with all 
the respect imaginable." ^ 

The Prince also, accompanied by Mrs. Fitzherbert, paid 
visits during the autumn and winter (i 800-1 801) to members 
of her family, who welcomed him back to their circle with open 
arms. He was at Kempshott in November, and at Red Rice. 
In December with Mrs. Fitzherbert he paid a visit to Sir Car- 
naby and Lady Haggerston (her brother-in-law and sister) at 
Grantham. He hunted with the Bel voir hounds, and while at 
Grantham he paid a visit to his great friend, Mary Isabella, 
the widowed Duchess of Rutland, who was then living at 
Belvoir Castle with her son the Duke, a minor. The following 
letter refers to that visit : — 

"Grantham, Dec. 28, 1800. 

"My dearest Duchess, — I cannot help trespassing on 
your well-known goodness to entreat of you to express to the 

1 Lady Jerningham writes of this breakfast (June i6, 1800): "Yesterday I 
was dreadfully ill all day, a bad cold, and I believe a storm in the air. It has 
dispensed me with going to Mrs. Fitzherbert's Breakfast this morning. George 
[Jerningham] and his wife are gone with the Chevalier [Jerningham] and the 
Kenmares." — "Jerningham Letters." 

2 "Autobiography of Miss Cornelia Knight, late companion of the Princess 
Charlotte of Wales." London, 1861. 



REUNION 



249 



Duke how sorry I am not to be able to come over to Bel voir 
to-day, having been much indisposed yesterday and continuing 
far from well to-day. However, as I understand the Hounds 
hunt at Barrowby to-morrow, I trust I shall be sufficiently stout 
to meet them at that cover, as it lays so contiguous to this place, 
and afterwards to proceed to Belvoir. What I feel most is the 
disappointment of not enjoying so much of your society as I 
should have done by passing a day more in the house with you. 
You know me too well, my dearest Friend, to make it necessary 
for me to add anything more, except how truly I am at all times 
and under all circumstances, ever your most sincere and attached 

^'^^^^' "George P. 

'^P.S. — Mrs. Fitz. unites with me in everything, my 
dearest Duchess, that is most kind to you." ^ 

Mrs. Fitzherbert's reconciliation to the Prince of Wales was 
now generally recognised, and the peculiar situation was ac- 
cepted by their friends with what grace they could muster. 
Those who objected ceased to be their friends. 

It cannot be said that Mrs. Fitzherbert acted precipitately 
in this matter, or without due consideration. She did not 
return to the Prince until four years after he had separated 
from the Princess of Wales, until long after that separation, 
which she had done nothing to bring about, was an accompUshed 
fact. Even then she only yielded after she had consulted the 
highest authorities of her Church. She went back to the Prince 
because she loved him, and because she believed herself to be 
his wife; there was no other inducement.' She was in her forty- 
fifth year, and, after all she had gone through, she might reason- 
ably have wished for repose; with the Prince, as she well knew, 
repose was impossible. While she was living apart from him, 
she had an assured and comfortable income, and she was re- 
garded with respect by all classes of the community. By 
rejoining the Prince she gained no worldly advantage, she 
sacrificed her tranquillity, and to some extent her dignity; she 
made herself a mark for public scandal, and put herself once 

1 The Duke of Rutland has kindly permitted me to copy this letter (from 
the original at Belvoir) for the purpose of publication in this book. 



250 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

more in an equivocal position — this time even more equivocal 
than before, for the Prince by the law of the land was married 
to another woman of equal birth, who legally shared his rank 
and dignity, and who had borne him a child. That he had 
ill-treated the Princess, neglected her, and separated from her, 
only aggravated the situation. Mrs. Fitzherbert was aware 
how strongly public feeling ran in favour of the Princess of 
Wales. She knew that if she openly rejoined the Prince without 
publishing her authority for doing so she would lay her conduct 
open to the worst constructions. Nevertheless she did not 
shrink from occupying a position which has well been described 
as "one of the most extraordinary, in which any woman was 
ever placed." She listened, in spite of her better judgment, to 
the pleading of the Prince of Wales, who represented himself 
to be the victim of a cruel state policy, which had forced him 
into a loveless union with a Princess who was' odious to him. 
From this point of view there was something to be said in 
excuse of the Prince. But there was also the Princess to be 
considered. Mrs. Fitzherbert could not see that she was doing 
her a wrong; she reasoned that the Princess did not love the 
Prince; he could not love her, and nothing would induce him 
to return to her, whether Mrs. Fitzherbert were reconciled to 
him or not. She wished the Princess no harm; she was merely 
availing herself of the prior claim which the Church told her 
she possessed to the Prince's hand and bed. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert insisted that all acquaintance between the 
Prince and Lady Jersey should be completely broken off before 
she received him back again. This the Prince promised, for he 
had rarely seen her since his separation from the Princess of 
Wales, and had done everything in his power, short of absolute 
rudeness, to avoid her. But Lady Jersey, though she knew 
her day was over, was not easily suppressed. Lady Jerningham 
writes an amusing account of Lady Jersey's behaviour towards 
the Prince at the Duchess of Devonshire's breakfast at Chiswick, 
which took place about a month after the "reconciliation break- 
fast" of Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

"We got there a little after three," writes Lady Jerningham, 
"and were told that the Duchess was in the pleasure ground. 
We accordingly found her sitting with Mrs. Fitzherbert by an 
urn. Several bands of musick were very well placed in the 



REUNION 251 

garden, so that when you were out of hearing of one band you 
began to catch the notes of another. Thus harmony always 
met your ears. This sort of continued concert has always a 
most pleasant eifect upon my nerves. There was a Temple 
which was destin'd to the Prince's entertainment, and was very 
prettily decorated with flowers. There were about twenty 
covers, and when we understood that the Duchess and all these 
fine people were in their Temple, we Goths, we took possession 
of the House, where we found in every room a table spread 
with cold meat, fruit, ice, and all sorts of wine. It is a fine 
house, and there are most delightful pictures in it. After the 
eating and quafhng was over, the young Ladies danced on the 
green. . . . The Prince was en polisson, a brown dress, round 
hat, and a brown wig. He stood almost the whole time by his 
band, and Dr. Burney, ordering different pieces of musick. 
Lady Jersey was coasting round the spot where he stood, with 
her daughters. Lady Anne Lambton and Lady Elizabeth Villiers 
(who has not yet been presented, and appears to be quite a 
girl). The Prince was quite annoyed with her, and eyed her 
askance; but she is resolved to plague him; she professes it to 
be her resolution." ^ 

At this time Lady Jersey was perhaps the most hated and 
abused woman in England. She had earned a most unenviable 
notoriety, and when the Prince threw her over, all classes 
rejoiced at her downfall. She was generally supposed to have 
been the cause of the separation between the Prince and Princess 
of Wales. Undoubtedly she embittered their relations, and 
hastened the crisis, but the separation between a pair so ill- 
assorted would have come to pass in any case. When Lady 
Jersey had disappeared, and Mrs. Fitzherbert came back again 
into the public gaze, some share of the popular execration was 
directed against the latter. By the ignorant public she was 
supposed to have taken the place of the discarded mistress, and 
the renewal of the intimacy between her and the Prince excited 
great dissatisfaction. Some of this found expression in the 

i"Jerningham Letters," Monday, July 7, 1800. One of the last glimpses 
we get of Lady Jersey is to be found in these letters. By 1813 she was quite 
deserted by all her admirers, and we find her at Middleton declaring that she 
cared for "the details of country life and nothing else." She died at Chelten- 
ham, July 25, 182 1, predeceasing by a few weeks only her rival. Queen Caroline. 



252 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

press, which in those days was extremely free in deaHng with 
the private affairs of royal personages. It was pointed out that 
previously to the marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales, 
a final separation had been arranged between the Prince and 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, and in consideration of this separation a 
handsome pension was guaranteed to the lady; by accepting 
the pension Mrs. Fitzherbert accepted the situation, and agreed 
to leave the field clear for the Princess. By now returning to 
the Prince she was doing the Princess a great wrong, and by 
still keeping her pension she was breaking faith with the public. 
On the surface this argument was plausible enough, but it must 
be remembered that those who most blamed her action at this 
juncture were not aware of the tie which bound her to the 
Prince. They were unaware also that she returned to him 
with the sanction of her Church, with the approval of many 
members of the royal family, and at the advice of many of her 
relatives and friends. Among her friends, however, there were 
some found to cavil, and there is no doubt that Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
by returning to the Prince after his marriage to the Princess of 
Wales, lost not only her popularity, but to some extent the 
respect which had been hitherto accorded to her. 

The question of right or wrong in this case is one of extraor- 
dinary difficulty. Even when we admit that Mrs. Fitzherbert 
was the canonical wife, the Princess of Wales was the legal 
consort of the Prince of Wales, and she had rights which should 
have been respected. It may be pleaded that in ignoring the 
Princess's rights Mrs. Fitzherbert was only following the dic- 
tates of her heart and her conscience; the fact remains that by 
ignoring them she made a grievous mistake. She made two 
great mistakes in her life, the first when she married the Prince 
of Wales in defiance of the law; the second when she went back 
to him in 1800. The latter mistake was the greater of the two. 
But it is easy to criticise the conduct of individuals in the light 
of subsequent events, and perhaps even if Mrs. Fitzherbert had 
known what the future had in store for her, it would have 
made no difference. She bought a few more years of happiness, 
and to her, maybe, they were worth the price she afterwards 
paid for them in suffering and tears. 



CHAPTER XIX 

HAPPY YEARS 

( I 800-1 804) 

Mrs. Fitzherbert once told Lord Stourton that "the next 
eight years were the happiest of her connection with the Prince" 
(that is the years which followed their reconciliation in 1800). 
"She used to say that they were extremely poor, but as merry 
as crickets." Lord Stourton adds, "As a proof of their poverty 
she told me that once on their returning to Brighton from 
London they mustered their common means and could not raise 
;^5 between them. Upon this, or some such occasion, she 
related to me that an old and faithful servant endeavoured to 
force them to accept ;£6o, which he said he had accumulated in 
the service of the best of masters and mistresses." The happy 
relations which existed between the Prince and his dependants 
have been already mentioned. As to Mrs. Fitzherbert, the 
devotion of her servants was boundless ; they remained with her 
for years, and grew grey in her service. 

The expression "extremely poor" must be taken as rela- 
tive. The Prince's income was burdened with the debts 
which had embarrassed him in the past, and were still accumu- 
lating in the present, to embarrass him in the future. Even so, 
he always found money for his pleasures, and for the extensive 
alterations which he was continually carrying out at Carlton 
House and the PaviHon. Mrs. Fitzherbert had her own 
jointure, and the annuity guaranteed to her at the time of her 
separation from the Prince. As she had now rejoined him, 
that annuity was probably not paid regularly, but whenever 
she was in money difficulties the Prince was always ready to 
help her out of them. In the years that immediately followed 
their reconciliation the Prince's devotion seemed to grow 
greater every day. Everything he had was at her disposal, 
and had Mrs. Fitzherbert been an interested person (which 

253 



254 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

she was not), she might have laid up a handsome fortune 
against the inevitable day when the fickle Prince should once 
more change. She did not at this time contemplate the possi- 
bility of any change in his affections, for they lived together 
in unbroken harmony, delighted to be with one another again. 
Only the shadow of the Prince's unfortunate political marriage 
fell across the sunshine of their lives. Mrs. Fitzherbert care- 
fully kept a judicious silence on this unhappy subject, and 
abstained from the shghtest allusion to it. The Prince was not 
so reticent. "The greatest interruptions to their happiness 
at that period," Mrs. Fitzherbert told Lord Stourton, "were 
his bitter and passionate regrets, and self-accusations for his 
conduct, which she always met by saying, ' We must look to the 
present and the future, and not think of the past.' " 

Mrs. Fitzherbert continued on terms of friendship and 
intimacy with the royal family, especially with the Prince's 
brothers, all of whom, except the Duke of Cumberland, were 
frequent visitors at her house. The Duke of Clarence, who 
had taken her part all through the unhappy quarrel brought 
about by Lady Jersey, had the warmest regard for her, and 
frequently consulted her on delicate matters connected with 
his numerous family. But the Duke of York remained above 
all others her best friend. "Her communications through 
life were even more confidential with the Duke of York than 
with the Duke of Clarence, and these communications con- 
tinued without interruption to the day of his death. Messages 
to George III. at one time and to the Queen at another were 
sent through this friendly medium. Their letters to each 
other were of the most confidential kind. The Duke fre- 
quently came to her house, day after day, passing many hours 
in her company, and entering with her into all the circumstances 
of the times. Their agreement with each other was never to 
give up their authorities, with the exception, which she always 
made, that she would observe no secrets to the disadvantage 
of the Prince; only she promised never, even to him, to divulge 
the source whence she derived her information. This she 
strictly observed, though she was sometimes scolded by the 
Duke for giving him information without any authority. 

"She owed much of the contentment of her life to the open 
manner in which she was able, through such a channel, to 



HAPPY YEARS 



255 



communicate with the King and Queen, on occasions of deH- 
cacy, to guide her conduct. Such correspondence was always 
maintained by verbal messages. She always endeavoured to 
avoid interfering in politics; but at one time, she furthered the 
earnest wish of the Father to prevent the Son from attending 
at a Newmarket meeting. At another time, when the greatest 
coolness subsisted between the Father and the Son, who was 
not even spoken to at court, she obtained from the King (know- 
ing how much the Prince suffered from this extreme coolness) 
a promise to speak with kindness to the Prince, who returned 
from court in the highest spirits, unaware of the person to 
whom he was indebted."^ 

With the Duke of Kent her relations were also very friendly. 
This Prince had lived a great deal abroad. He had been 
educated in Germany and Switzerland, a victim to the mis- 
taken notions of the King, who did not think an English edu- 
cation was good for an English Prince. He was then sent to 
various places in the colonies, and given a very inadequate 
allowance, with the result that he, through no fault of his own, 
became financially embarrassed. He returned to England in 
1799, and renewed his acquaintance with Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
She gave him a warm welcome home, which contrasted with 
the coldness and indifference he met with from the King and 
Queen. The Duke was of a generous and an affectionate 
disposition, and he never forgot her kindness. Not only did 
he frequently visit her, but he entered into a correspondence 
with her, as friendly, if not so intimate, as that which she con- 
ducted with the Duke of York.^ 

Soon after Mrs. Fitzherbert's reconciliation to the Prince 
of Wales, her house in Tilney Street was enlarged by the addi- 
tion of the one next it. The two houses were thrown into one, 
and made a spacious mansion, more adapted to her changed 
requirements. She gave up her villa at Castle Hill, Ealing, 

1 Langdale, op. cit. 

- The correspondence between Mrs. Fitzherbert and the Duke of York 
(which touched upon political as well as family matters) was destroyed "after 
his death. She preserved many of the Duke of Kent's letters; they were found 
among her papers. I am permitted by His Majesty the King to quote from 
this collection sundry letters of the Duke of Kent which will be found in this 
book. They will serve to show the respect in which Mrs. Fitzherbert was 
held, not only by the Duke, but by all the royal family. 



256 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

for it was associated with the saddest period of her hfe, and 
the Duke of Kent took over the remainder of the lease. In its 
place she took East End House, Parson's Green, Fulham. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert altered this house considerably, and improved 
the garden. Here she resided, off and on, for several years.^ 

Even during these years, which Mrs. Fitzherbert described 
as the happiest of her life with the Prince, their domestic peace 
and happiness was continually broken by difficulties which 
arose out of the Prince's political and domestic affairs. In 
1801 the King again fell alarmingly ill, and symptoms of the 
old malady showed themselves. Dr. Willis was called in, 
but at first even his skill availed nothing, and the King's reason 
and life were declared to be in danger. This state of affairs 
naturally brought the Prince of Wales forward, and the Re- 
gency question was once more in the air. The Prince behaved 
with great decorum; he engaged in no intrigue, did not see 
Fox, and Mrs. Fitzherbert remained quite in the background. 
Even so the court party attacked him and endeavoured to mis- 
represent him; they said he behaved rudely to the Queen, and 
used "shocking language" about the King. It is no wonder 
that the Prince became restive under such misrepresentation. 
However, before long the crisis passed, the King became 
better — for a time. 

In 1803 the Peace, or rather truce, of Amiens came to a 
violent end, and war again broke out with France. In Eng- 
land martial ardour and patriotic feehng were raised to the 
highest pitch. Throughout the kingdom was heard the noise 
of mihtary preparations; volunteer associations were formed, 
immense sums of money were subscribed, and persons of high 
rank did not think it beneath them to serve as private soldiers, 
if commissions were not forthcoming. Every able-bodied 
man in England was eager to shed his blood for his country, 
now threatened with invasion by the dreaded "Bonaparte." 
Only one man was forbidden to take any share in his country's 
defence, and that one was the heir-apparent. He was nomi- 
nally a colonel of dragoons, but he was not allowed by the King 
to take any active part on the plea of his rank, though his next 

1 East End House was burned down in 1884. It was originally built in 
169Q by Sir Francis Child, Lord Mayor of London, and founder of Child's 
Bank. 




THE DUKE OF KENT 



HAPPY YEARS 



257 



brother, the Duke of York, was Commander-in-Chief, and 
mihtary commands of the highest importance were bestowed 
on his younger brothers. The Prince of Wales addressed 
impassioned appeals to be allowed to bear arms in the defence 
of his country to the Prime Minister, Addington, who could 
only refer him to the King. The King met them all with a 
blunt refusal. The Prince then carried on an animated and 
voluminous correspondence with the Duke of York, but the 
Duke, as Commander-in-chief, on this occasion threw in his 
lot with the King. This produced a coolness between the two 
brothers, and it inflamed the Prince of Wales's mind still 
further against the King. He went about everywhere repeat- 
ing his favourite expression that his father "hated him"; and 
he declared that the King forced this inaction upon him with 
the object of exposing him "to the obloquy of being regarded 
by the country as passing my time indifferent to the events 
which menace it, and insensible to the call of patriotism, much 
more to glory." The Prince's indignation was genuine, and he 
had a right to be indignant. The King's refusal was in fact 
part of a set plan to insult, humiliate, and misrepresent the 
heir-apparent on every possible occasion. In this instance the 
Prince spoilt his father's tactics by getting his friends to bring 
the question before the House of Commons, where it was made 
a subject of prolonged debate. Not content with this, the 
Prince took the unusual and unwise step of publishing the 
whole of the correspondence which had passed on the subject^ 
— the King's letters, his own letters, the Duke of York's letters, 
and the Prime Minister's. The effect on the King of this 
publication was beyond what he could express in words; he 
regarded it as the crowning affront offered to him by his un- 
dutiful son. "He has published my letters! he has published 
my letters!" the King kept repeating, as though no more was 
needed to express the depths of his iniquity. Throughout 
this fierce family feud Mrs. Fitzherbert tried to pour balm on 
the wounded feelings of all concerned. She sought to mitigate 
the Prince's wrath against the King, or at least to check its 
public expression. It was she who prevented an open break 
between the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York, though her 

1 In the Morning Chronicle, December 7, 1803. 



258 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

sympathies seem to have been with the latter, for she admitted 
that "the Duke of York always acted beautifully." She knew 
how deeply attached the brothers were to each other, and she 
laboured hard to remove any and every misunderstanding 
between them which arose from the injudicious preference of 
the King. She came generally to be regarded by the royal 
family as a peacemaker and mediator. The Prince of Wales 
would often listen to her calm and reasoned words when he 
would listen to no one else, for he knew her to be absolutely 
disinterested, and after violent protests to the contrary he would 
come round to her way of thinking. 

Even in such a delicate matter as his relations with the 
Princess of Wales, Mrs. Fitzherbert intervened with good 
results, and for a few years at least the ill-mated pair were 
content to live without annoying one another unnecessarily. 
Open discord and public scandal were avoided, and the world 
had come to recognise their separation as inevitable. The 
Prince and Princess of Wales occasionally met at the King's 
drawing-rooms, and greeted one another with ceremonious 
courtesy. The princess was regarded with ill-concealed aver- 
sion by Queen Charlotte and many of the Princesses: on the 
other hand the King was her friend, the Dukes of Kent and 
Sussex occasionally visited her, and the Duchess of York 
treated her with courtesy and scarcely veiled sympathy. The 
Princess of Wales was Hving at Montague House, Blackheath, 
where she entertained in a very informal way a good deal of 
company, some of whom she would have been better without. 
She did not manage her own affairs; her bills were all sent in 
to Carlton House to be paid. This arrangement did not work 
well, for the Princess, though not extravagant where her own 
needs were concerned, was very careless about money matters, 
very generous, and very easily imposed upon. Her alms- 
giving was indiscriminate, her tradesmen charged whatever 
they pleased, and her servants robbed her, with the result that 
her affairs soon became confused. The Prince appointed a 
Colonel Thomas as a sort of comptroller of her household, 
or rather of her bills. This did not mend matters, for in busi- 
ness matters Thomas was incapable, and the Princess disHked 
him, for she thought he was a sort of spy on her actions. Diffi- 
culties arose between the Princess and Thomas, which ex- 



HAPPY YEARS 259 

asperated the Prince ; and as he refused to communicate directly 
with the Princess, affairs became more and more involved. 
In this dilemma, Mrs. Fitzherbert suggested that the Duke of 
Kent, who was on friendly terms with the Princess, should try 
to arrange matters. The Prince agreed, and gave the Duke 
of Kent full power to do what he liked, provided he were not 
troubled further. The Duke of Kent, who was very conscien- 
tious and painstaking, found that the Princess's complaints 
against Thomas were quite justified, and he recommended 
his dismissal. The Duke was a little dubious how the Prince 
(who never would beheve that the Princess could be right 
about anything) would take it, and he wrote to Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert : — 

H.R.H. the Duke 0} Kent to Mrs. Fitzherbert, Tilney Street. 

"Castle Hill Lodge, November 21, 1801. 

"My dearest Mrs. Fitzherbert, — Having had occa- 
sion, in a letter I wrote this day to Admiral Payne, acquainting 
him for the Prince's information with the particulars of my 
visit to Blackheath, to speak my sentiments in union with those 
of the Princess, upon the inutility of Colonel Thomas's ser- 
vices to her, which, from conviction, I thought it my duty to 
do, I entreat your good offices with my brother, for whom you 
know my warm attachment, so as to prevent his taking offence 
at my sincerity and openness on this point, upon which I know 
he has formed another opinion. 

"But I really felt it a duty incumbent on me, as the person 
employed by him to put the Princess's affairs under certain 
regulations, to point out that the Colonel was in every respect 
unfit for the business, and that the plan could not go on without 
a more capable person to direct it. I trust it will need no 
great exertion to convince the Prince of my zeal in his service, 
of my fideHty in the discharge of the duty he has entrusted me 
with, or of my firm friendship. But as I am aware, that on 
this point I have been compelled, from a sense of what in honour 
I owed him, to speak a little against what I knew to be his 
sentiments, I am apprehensive that, at the first outset, it may 
put him in a little ill-humour with me, and to prevent this con- 
tinuing is the object of my thus intruding upon you. Permit 



26o MRS. FITZHERBERT 

me therefore to hope you will assist me in convincing the Prince 
that I have acted only from the sense of the duty I owe him, 
and from what, in honour and conscience, I felt I should act 
like a scoundrel, if I did not candidly state. 

"I shall not trespass longer upon your time, than just to 
assure you that I shall ever be happy when I can be permitted 
to subscribe myself with sincere regard, your truly devoted 
and faithful servant, "Edward." 

Mrs. Fitzherbert intervened and blunted the edge of the 
Prince's anger. Colonel Thomas was relieved of his duties, 
which were placed in the hands of a more capable person, and 
the Princess of Wales was duly grateful. She felt no jealousy 
of Mrs. Fitzherbert — an extraordinary situation, truly, for 
them both. 

Unfortunately all the unhappy disputes between the Prince 
and Princess of Wales did not end so satisfactorily. Bitter 
quarrels presently arose concerning the custody and education 
of the Princess Charlotte, now a bright and intelligent child 
of seven or eight years old. She already showed signs of a 
high spirit, an affectionate disposition, and a generous temper; 
though in appearance she resembled her father, in tempera- 
ment she was the daughter of her mother, to whom she was 
devotedly attached. The poor little Princess was in a difficult 
position; her father and mother were at war with one another, 
her grandmother was at war with her mother, and her grand- 
father at war with her father, and she was the object on which 
all their quarrels centred. To do the old King justice he was 
quick to see the harmful effect these family disputes must have 
on the child, and he resolved to take her education into his own 
hands. The Prince of Wales at first seemed to consent to 
this, then he resented it, and complained that he was treated 
as though he were not a fit person to be entrusted with the 
training of his daughter. He certainly was not. He had 
learned that the Princess of Wales was to have free access to 
her daughter at all times, when it should not interfere with 
her studies, and that the King was determined to do nothing 
to hurt the feelings of his "dearest daughter-in-law and niece," 
and to uphold on all occasions "her authority as a mother." 
The little Princess made no concealment of her preference. 



HAPPY YEARS 261 

She was asked to a children's party at Windsor Castle, and 
being told that she might bring a friend, she instantly named 
her mother. All this, natural enough in the child, was re- 
sented by her father, and though he was devoted to children, 
he frequently treated his daughter with harshness. Conse- 
quently the little Princess grew to dread the interviews with 
her father, while those with her mother, who petted and spoiled 
her, were a delight. 

In the end the Prince had to give way, and the King ap- 
appointed the Dowager Lady de Clifford^ and the Bishop of 
Exeter to undertake the care and education of the Princess 
Charlotte. Lady de Chfford had seen much of the French 
court; she was a woman of fine character, charming and gra- 
cious. She was a friend and neighbour of Mrs. Fitzherbert 
(she lived in South Audley Street, just round the corner from 
Tilney Street). On one occasion we find the Prince writing 
to his "dearest Lady de Clifford" (March i, 1805) excusing 
himself from going to see "your little charge and you," on the 
plea of urgent business. He added, "If you wish for me late 
this evening, I mean to say between eleven and twelve o'clock, 
you know where to -find me." This was at Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
house in Tilney Street, where the Prince was wont to sup. 
Whether Lady de Clifford went there to see him deponent 
sayeth not, but the Prince's suggestion shows the curious 
intimacy that existed between all the parties. Yet this inti- 
macy did not prevent the Prince later from using language to 
Lady de Clifford which the King declared "he could not sanc- 
tion." One must not take these people and their quarrels too 
seriously. No doubt they understood one another better than 
it is possible for us to understand them. Mrs. Fitzherbert 
appears in the matter of the Princess Charlotte, as in others, 
as using her best endeavours to promote peace. She prayed 
the Prince to show more affection to his daughter. The Prince 
was naturally attached to her, but, embittered by constant 
disputes, and by the child's marked preference for her mother, 
he considered it his duty to treat her with coldness. Mrs. 
Fitzherbert loved children, and often at this time saw the 
Princess Charlotte, who became much attached to her. "Upon 

1 Sophia, Lady de Clifford, married Edward, twentieth Baron de Clifford, 
and died in 1828. 



262 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

one occasion Mrs. Fitzherbert told me," writes Lord Stourton, 
"she was much affected by the Princess Charlotte's throwing 
her arms around her neck and beseeching her to speak to her 
father that he would receive her with greater marks of affection; 
and she told me that she could not help weeping with this 
interesting child." ^ In this connection we may quote here an 
unpublished letter which the Princess wrote to her father 
when she was twelve years old:^ — 

H.R.H. the Princess Charlotte to H.R.H. the Prince of 

Wales. 

"December i6, 1808. 

"My dearest Papa, — I cannot resist writing to thank 
you for the very kind little remembrance you were so good as 
to send me by Lady Essex. She gave us a full account of the 
entertainments going on at the Pavilion. I could not help 
wishing I had been there — how happy should I have been to 
have seen you. 

"I long to hear when you intend coming to London. When 
is this likely, pray tell me? I assure you I will endeavour to 
please you in everything, and I hope you will find me improved 
in my learning, and in goodness. 

"I am, my dearest Papa, your ever aff''^ and dutiful daughter, 

"Charlotte." 

The Princess of Wales raised no obstacle to Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert's seeing her daughter; but the fact of these meetings leaked 
out, and great objection was taken by some persons whom it in 
no way concerned. The objection, curiously enough, did not 
arise from Mrs. Fitzherbert's anomalous position with the 
Prince, but from her religion. Before long, the rumour was 
started that she was trying to convert the little Princess to 
Popery, and many false and scurrilous paragraphs found their 
way into the press. The cartoonist also was not idle. One of 
them set forth a parody of a well-known picture entitled "The 
Guardian Angel conducting the soul of a child to heaven." 

1 Langdale, op. cit.- 

2 This letter was found among Mrs. Fitzherbert's papers. It was doubtless 
given to her by the Prince of Wales, and may have been connected with her 
well-meant efforts to establish better relations between him and his daughter. 



HAPPY YEARS 263 

The cartoon, dated April 2, 1805, portrays Mrs. Fitzherbert 
equipped with wings, with the Princess in her arms, soaring 
aloft from the Brighton Pavilion to a flower-bedecked altar; 
her lap is filled with a breviary and images of the saints, as 
playthings for the Princess; the leading members of the Whig 
party, such as Stanhope, Grenville, Grey, Erskine, Sheridan, 
and Fox, appear as attendant cherubim. 

Nothing could be more unfair or untrue than the suggestion 
conveyed in this cartoon, for Mrs. Fitzherbert never tried to 
"convert" any one, high or low; but its pubhcation had the 
effect of checking the meetings between herself and the Princess 
Charlotte, which thereafter became few and far between. 

The ceaseless disputes with his family, combined with the 
failure of his political schemes, frequently made the Prince ill. 
Early in 1804, when he was at Brighton, he was seized with one 
of those sudden and mysterous attacks to which he was subject 
all his life. He treated it, as usual, with profuse bleeding, 
which afforded him relief, but brought him so low, that for a 
time he seems to have been in danger of his life. Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, contrary to her rule, took up her lodging at the Pavilion 
in order that she might be nearer the Prince, and she nursed 
him night and day with unremitting devotion. Throughout 
the Prince's illness, she unofficially informed the Queen of his 
progress through the Duke of Kent, who wrote to her every 
day to inquire after the Prince's health. One of his many 
letters to her at this time may be quoted here : — 

H.R.H. the Duke of Kent to Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

"Kensington Palace, 
Saturday, February 4, 1804. 

" My dearest Mrs. Fitzherbert, — I cannot find words 
sufficient to express the joy I derived from your most kind letter 
of last evening, by which I have received so comfortable an 
account of the dear Prince. It has relieved me from an immense 
weight, as yesterday I must confess I felt quite heart-broken 
about him. Pray say everything most affectionate from me, 
and add that nothing could be kinder than the interest expressed 
both by the Queen and all our sisters about him. I request, 
though I have not the pleasure of personally knowing Sir 



264 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Walter/ that you will express how grateful / feel to him for the 
care he has taken of the Prince, and the attachment he has 
evinced for him, on the present occasion. 

"I have consulted with the Duke of Clarence about proper 
quarters for the Prince on his return to Town, and he instantly- 
said he would not suffer him to go to any but his ; so that this 
point is settled. If the noise should be troublesome, it will be 
obviated immediately by putting straw on the adjoining pave- 
ment. 

"All is going on well with K[ing],2 much as when I last 
wrote; the hurry is less than it was some days back, but still 
exists: we are still in a precarious state, but the physician told 
me an hour ago, unless anything suddenly occurred to effect a 
change for the worse, the balance was in the favour of his 
patient. 

"Pray accept of the assurance of my unalterable friendship 
and esteem, and believe me ever to be, my dearest Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, most faithfully and devotedly yours, 

" Edward." 

On the Prince's recovery, Mrs. Fitzherbert devoted herself 
to bring about a reconcihation between the Prince and his 
parents. With the Queen, with whom he had quarrelled at 
the time of his father's illness in 1801, it was comparatively 
easy; she was always ready to make allowances for her son, 
and they were reconciled a few months later; but with the 
King, whose mind was partially unhinged, it was more difficult. 
The King proposed a meeting of reconciliation and then post- 
poned it; he could not bring himself to forgive the Prince's 
publication of his letters. It was not until November 1804 that 
an interview took place between the father and son, in the pres- 
ence of the Queen, the Duke and Duchess of York, and several 
of the Princesses. The Prince was very ill at ease, and those 
who saw the meeting predicted that "it is quite impossible that 
this reconciliation can last." It did not last, but it called a 
truce in the family strife, and that was something gained. 

> Sir Walter Farquhar, Mrs. Fitzherbert's physician. 

2 The King was at this time very ill also, with a return of his old malady; 
after 1801 these attacks became increasingly frequent. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE prince's pleasure-house 

(1800-1808) 

If Mrs. Fitzherbert's happiest years were those which fol- 
lowed her reconciliation to the Prince in 1800, the happiest 
hours of them without doubt were those which she spent with 
him at Brighton. It must have been there that they were 
"merry as crickets," for, when the Prince came to his lordly 
pleasure-house at Brighton, he left cares and worries behind 
him, and abandoned himself to the joys of the passing hour. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert had not been to Brighton for five or six years. 
The townsfolk rejoiced to see her among them again; they 
associated her more than any one else with Brighton's prosperity, 
for it was her hking for the place which had in past years drawn 
the Prince thither so often. At the time of the separation, none 
lamented more than the people of Brighton the breach between 
Mrs. Fitzherbert and the Prince, none execrated Lady Jersey 
more than they. When Mrs. Fitzherbert's httle house near 
the Pavilion was closed, and rumour went forth that she would 
come no more, they felt that half their glory had departed. 
When, therefore, she came back with the Prince in the summer 
of 1 801, expressions of joy and satisfaction were heard on all 
sides, and the phrase "Mrs. Fitzherbert and the Prince" re- 
sumed all its old attraction. The fact that during the interval 
the Prince had been provided with a Princess, who shared his 
dignities, and was the mother of his child, made no difference 
to the warmth of Mrs. Fitzherbert's welcome back to Brighton; 
nor did it affect her position there. Whatever the cause of this 
unhappy state of the Prince's domestic affairs, it was felt that 
she was not to blame. The cheers which greeted Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert and the Prince on their first appearance on the Steine 
were loud and long. They were perhaps not altogether disin- 
terested, for there had been rumours that, with his changed 

265 



266 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

circumstances, . the Prince would see less of Brighton. Now 
that he was with Mrs. Fitzherbert again, it was felt that the 
town was assured of all the benefits of his patronage for many 
a long day. 

The general feeling of satisfaction was deepened by the 
news that the Prince, so far from abandoning Brighton, intended 
to spend more time there than before. It became known that 
he was purchasing land around the PaviHon with a view to 
extending the grounds, and that the palace was to be improved 
and enlarged. A great deal of building went on in Brighton 
during the years 1801-4. The Prince spent some of the money 
he obtained from Parliament after his marriage on decorating 
and enlarging his PaviHon at Brighton. While the alterations 
were in progress, we read, "several pieces on very beautiful 
Chinese paper" were presented to the Prince, and these sug- 
gested to him the famous Chinese gallery. The idea was duly 
carried out, and the gallery was decorated with dragons, lan- 
terns, pagodas, and figures supposed to be pecuhar to China. 
Herein may be traced the origin of the so-called Eastern decora- 
tion of the PaviHon. The Prince extended this style to its 
architecture, with the result that there gradually arose the gro- 
tesque and incongruous, though not altogether unlovely, build- 
ing which visitors to Brighton wonder at to-day. The bewil- 
dering mixture of styles in its architecture arose from the varying 
moods of the wayward Prince. We learn that originally some- 
thing of the building was Grecian and something was Gothic, 
but the central dome, or Rotunda, resembles a Turkish mosque; 
the pinnacles are Moorish if anything; one part seems to be 
Egyptian, another Chinese, and another to be reminiscent of 
Hindustan. The Prince called his house " Oriental," and with 
that general term it may be left to rest. A contemporary writer 
has described the PaviHon as "a nondescript monster in build- 
ings. It appears Hke a mad house, or a house run mad, as it 
has neither beginning, middle, nor end." The alterations of 
the Pavilion never ceased until the death of George IV., and 
even WilHam IV. added the north gate. The PaviHon may be 
seen to-day, as Thackeray says, "for sixpence," restored to 
much of its pristine splendour; the Chinese gallery; the music- 
room, with its gorgeous frescoes, and green and golden dragons ; 
the yellow drawing-room, with its oriental colonnades; the 







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THE PRINCE'S PLEASURE-HOUSE 267 

saloon, or rotunda; and above all the banqueting-room, with its 
domed ceihng representing an Eastern sky. Against this sky 
is painted a gigantic palm spreading its foliage, fruit, and flower, 
and beneath it floats a fiery dragon bearing in its claws a mag- 
nificent crystal chandeher.^ These rooms are now dismantled 
of furniture, and the merry reckless crowd that filled them with 
life and movement are dead and gone, nearly a century ago, 
but otherwise they are unchanged from what they were in the 
Georgian days. 

The decorations and alterations which transformed the 
PaviHon from a pleasant seaside residence into a semi-oriental 
palace, were chiefly carried out during this period (1801-4); 
they involved a great deal of pulling down, both in the Pavilion 
itself and in the adjoining buildings. Among the houses that 
disappeared was the small house which Mrs. Fitzherbert had 
occupied previously to her rupture with the Prince in 1794. It 
therefore became necessary that she should have a new residence 
in Brighton, as she always declined to live in the Pavilion. A 
suitable site was found close to the Pavilion on the Steine, and 
there she built her house, which was known as Steine House, 
or more generally as "the mansion of Mrs. Fitzherbert."^ 
The house was large, roomy, and comfortable, though not 
magnificent enough to be called a mansion in the modern 
acceptation of the term. The house faced the Steine, separated 
from it by a httle garden. The entrance was at the side. An 
outer hall led to an inner hall, and this opened on to two spa- 
cious rooms on the ground floor, the library and dining-room. 
A handsome double staircase led to the drawing-rooms on the 
first floor; there too were Mrs. Fitzherbert's boudoir and bed- 
room. Behind these again was a small oratory. The chief 
feature of the house was the wide, covered balcony or verandah, 
which ran the whole length of the front of the house, and 
commanded a fine view of the Steine and the sea beyond.^ 

1 To some the principal interest of the PaviHon centres in the private apart- 
ments of George IV., which consist of a library, bedroom, bath, sitting, and 
dressing rooms. These rooms are on the ground floor, and look over the Pavil- 
ion lawns. They are of moderate size, and very little remains of their former 
splendour; the only remaining evidence of it being the bathroom of pure white 
marble, a great luxury in those days. 

2 The Lords of the Manor granted the ground to Mrs. Fitzherbert in 1803, 
and the following year the house was built. 

* The view of the sea was much less interrupted by houses then than now. 



268 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Access to it was from the drawing-rooms on the first floor. 
On this balcony Mrs. Fitzherbert spent much of her time; here 
when the weather was fine she received her friends, and sat 
chatting with them over a "dish of tea" or looking down on 
the ever-changing scene below. All Brighton walked, rode, 
or drove on the Steine in those days, and on the level open 
spaces, which are now gardens, divers entertainments took 
place — ■ auctions, rustic sports, drilling of the militia, betting- 
rings in race week. Punch and Judy shows, and the playing of 
military bands. 

The Prince of Wales was often to be seen upon Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert's balcony, especially of a morning. He would sit there 
talking to her by the hour together; sometimes he would honour 
with a bow or a smile some one of his acquaintance passing on 
the Steine below. How he got there was a mystery to many. 
He was rarely seen to pass backwards and forwards between 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's house and the Pavilion. He must have had 
a private way, and the fact that he was so seldom seen to enter 
her house or to leave it, and yet appeared so often on the balcony, 
gave rise to the report that Mrs. Fitzherbert's house and the 
Pavihon were connected by an underground passage. If such 
a passage existed it was kept a profound secret during their 
lifetime; none of the retainers knew of it, and to-day every 
trace of it, either at the Pavilion or at Mrs. Fitzherbert's house, 
has disappeared, though at different times there have been 
rumours of its discovery.^ The Prince, for some reason of his 
own, had an underground passage made which led directly 
from his private apartments at the Pavihon to his stables and 
riding-school, now known as the Dome. This passage exists 
to-day, but it leads in an opposite direction to Mrs. Fitzherbert's 

' Mrs. Fitzherbert's house at Brighton was sold by public auction in 1838, 
about a year after her death. Since then it has passed through several hands. 
The late Judge Turner resided there for many years. Then it was rented by 
the Civil and United Service Club, who made many internal alterations. During 
their tenancy it was said that the entrance of the secret passage had been dis- 
covered. A stone trap led to a vault or passage which was choked up with 
rubbish, but it seemed to lead nowhere. The house is now occupied by the 
Young Men's Christian Association, who have made further alterations to meet 
their requirements. It seems a pity that this fine house, so interesting in its 
historical associations, could not be acquired by the municipality of Brighton, 
and converted to some public use as a memorial of Mrs. Fitzherbert — the 
woman to whom Brighton owes so much. At present, not even her picture 
marks the walls of the house where she died. 



THE PRINCE'S PLEASURE-HOUSE 269 

house, which is at the south side of the Pavilion, whereas the 
Dome is at the north. On the whole, since no trace of it can 
be discovered, the story of an underground passage between 
the PaviHon and Mrs. Fitzherbert's house must be dismissed 
as doubtful. The Prince, who loved mystery, might well have 
suggested such a thing, but Mrs. Fitzherbert, who preferred 
everything open and above ground, would have been hardly 
likely to consent to it. Besides, why should there be any 
secrecy ? Her relations with the Prince were well known ; there 
surely was no occasion for a man to make a mystery about 
going to see his wife. 

From the time Mrs. Fitzherbert's house was finished, she 
made Brighton her principal residence; that is to say, she spent 
many months there every year, and she regarded Brighton as a 
home. She interested herself in promoting the prosperity of 
the town, and gave largely to the local charities without distinc- 
tion of creed. She spent Christmas there in 1802, and the 
local paper writes (December 27, 1802), "The charitable do- 
nations, and willing assistance which Mrs. Fitzherbert has 
bestowed, and continues to bestow, on the unfortunate individ- 
uals of this place have endeared her to the inhabitants of every 
description." 

Coincident with the building of Mrs. Fitzherbert's house a 
wave of prosperity swept over Brighton. The town increased 
east, west, and north; east so far as the Royal Crescent, where 
a statue of the Prince, now removed by an ungrateful generation, 
graced the green plot in front; westward as far as what was 
then known as Bellevue, now Regency Square, and northwards 
to St. Nicholas's Church, which had before stood isolated in 
green fields. New banks were opened, new theatres and other 
places of amusement built, and fashionable physicians multi- 
plied by the score. The town was thronged with distinguished 
visitors, who spent their money freely; houses and lodgings 
were at a premium, and trade was at its briskest. How could 
good Brightonians do anything but reverence those personages 
who brought them all these good things? Carlton House has 
been called "a very Pandora's box of vice and profligacy," but 
no such charge was ever brought against the Pavilion — at 
least in Brighton. Mrs. Fitzherbert's presence there as the 
reigning lady was considered a guarantee of its respectability, 



270 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

and whatever charges might be brought against the Prince 
.elsewhere, in Brighton he could do no wrong. 

We get many glimpses of life at the Pavilion during these 
years, and though the Prince and his companions were full of 
high spirits, and indulged in many pranks and practical jokes, 
and though there was sometimes hard-drinking after the manner 
of the time, yet it is never recorded that there was any serious 
lapse from decorum. Of course many stories were circulated; 
for there are people who see harm in the most innocent amuse- 
ment ; but few of these stories will bear investigation, and many 
of them were grossly exaggerated. Life at the Pavilion was 
merry enough to be sure, but it was not necessarily evil on that 
account. Within those "Oriental halls" the green and golden 
dragons looked down on many a curious scene; there was an 
endless succession of dinner-parties, concerts, balls, card- 
parties, and theatricals, Bacchus and Venus, Terpsichore and 
Melpomene were all honoured in turn, and stray grains of in- 
cense were thrown on the altars of Minerva and Mars. The 
Prince was passionately fond of music, his life appears to have 
been set to its strains; at Brighton his private band played 
twice daily, in the morning in the Pavilion grounds, in the 
evening indoors. The Prince suffered from what has been 
called a " superfoetation of activity"; he could never rest at 
Brighton. Perhaps the air had something to do with it. Inside 
the Pavilion there was always something going on — outside 
there were reviews, naval displays, races, cricket-matches, 
bathing and boating, donkey rides and water-parties without 
end. A local chronicler informs us: "It is tonish to indulge in 
water-parties before dinner; five or six people hire a boat and 
sail and paddle like the Phoenicians on the skirt of the shore. 
The senior mistress of the bath, Martha Gunn, makes a good 
report of her practice. The long-eared palfreys are still the 
favourites of the ladies; and Angels on Jerusalem ponies are no 
novelty." The Prince, though he was now middle-aged, was 
still a boy at heart, and often joined in these water-parties. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert joined in them' too at his desire, though one 
would think she lost something of her dignity on such occa- 
sions. 

Another of the Prince's freaks was to sup occasionally in 
the kitchen. These entertainments were of the nature of 



THE PRINCE'S PLEASURE-HOUSE 271 

"surprise parties." The Prince, wearying of his state, would 
adjourn with all his company from the gorgeous banqueting- 
rooms to the kitchens and spend a merry hour. The following 
is a description of one of these "royal freaks" which happened 
rarely: "A scarlet cloth was thrown over the pavement; a 
splendid repast was provided, and the good-humoured Prince 
sat down with a select party of his friends, and spent a joyous 
hour. The whole of the servants, particularly the female portion, 
were dehghted with this mark of royal condescension." "The 
royal condescension" became known, and formed the subject 
of many scurrilous paragraphs which the "royal freak" did not 
justify. It was all very merry, very foolish, perhaps, but who 
shall say that there was any harm in it ? 

The gaiety within the Pavilion communicated itself to the 
gay town outside, which became a veritable city of pleasure. 
The great popular festivities during these years were the cele- 
brations of the Prince's birthday (August 12). This auspicious 
day was always celebrated at Brighton as a public holiday; 
oxen were roasted whole, bands played on the Steine and in 
the Pavihon grounds from morning till night, popular sports 
took place on the Level, such as donkey races, running and 
jumping in sacks, sparring matches, &c. In the evening there 
were bonfires and fireworks, and the whole town was illumi- 
nated. In truth those were brave days, and Brighton will 
never see their like again. The Steine was then at its meridian 
of glory; the world of fashion resorted thither daily, with the 
Prince of Wales at its head. Who shall describe the brilhant 
attire of the ladies on these promenades ? and in those days the 
men ran them close. In dress the Prince was supreme, and 
his clothes were more eagerly scanned than those of any woman 
of quality. Whatever he wore became le dernier cri of the sar- 
torial art. He was the arbiter of fashion, and despite his 
increasing stoutness (the Princess of Wales had called him 
"fat," which he never forgave), his figure and "deportment" 
were considered to be perfect. And then his bow! "Powers 
of Heaven!" exclaimed an Irishman, "there never was such a 
bow. It was a bow, sir, which concentrated in itself all the 
grace, all the elegance, all the easy pliability, which can be seen 
elsewhere in the three kingdoms. I could swear that he was 
born bowing, had continued bowing, and never did anything 



272 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

else but bow, from his birth to the present time. By the 
Powers! it was wonderful!" 

There were many distinguished visitors to Brighton during 
this period. The famous French General Dumourier was there 
in the summer of 1805, and was sumptuously entertained at the 
PaviHon. When he paraded the Steine "he was the very centre 
of attraction." Warren Hastings was at Brighton the same 
year, hugging his grievances and nursing his wounded pride. 
The Prince welcomed him to the Pavihon many times, and 
Hastings has recorded the gracious kindly way in which he 
was received. That manly roystering fraternity known as the 
"royal brothers," one or another, was always at Brighton; 
thither too came Brummel with his airs of ineffable impudence; 
Sheridan with his polished wit and admirable manners, and 
Lord Thurlow, with his black bushy eyebrows and voice of 
thunder. The Prince treated Thurlow with great deference, 
though the eminent lawyer was nothing of a courtier. "Your 
father, sir," he growled, "will always be popular so long as he 
goes to church on Sunday, and remains faithful to that ugly 
woman, your mother; but you, sir, will never be popular." 
The Prince bore with "old gruff y" because he was so useful to 
him. Indeed, he combined business with pleasure at his 
Pavilion parties, and many were the poHticians and pam- 
phleteers who came to Brighton and were entertained at the 
Pavilion. The Prince always asked all those, however obscure, 
who might be useful to him in some capacity or other. 

Among the many who came to Brighton at this time (in 
September 1805) was the now famous Thomas Creevey,^ and 
his wife and her daughters. Creevey was a devoted follower 
of Fox, and the Prince knew of him as a needy politician who 
had a vote. Creevey wrote down his name at the Pavihon, 
and the Prince sent him the usual invitation to dinner. Creevey 
went, and thus describes his visit: "Mrs. Fitzherbert, whom I 
had never been in a room with before, sat on one side of the 
Prince with the Duke of Clarence on the other. ... In the 
course of the evening the Prince took me up to the card-table 
where Mrs. Fitzherbert was playing and said, 'Mrs. Fitzherbert, 

» Thomas Creevey, M.P. (1768-1838), a selection from whose papers, edited 
by Sir Herbert Maxwell, was published, 1903, under the title of "The Creevey 
Papers." 



THE PRINCE'S PLEASURE-HOUSE 273 

I wish you would call upon Mrs. Creevey and say from me I 
shall be happy to see her here.'" ^ 

The Creeveys were at Brighton for four months, and fre- 
quently dined at the Pavilion. Creevey writes: "We used to 
dine pretty punctually at six, the average number being about 
sixteen. . . , Mrs. Fitzherbert always dined there, and mostly 
one other lady — Lady Downshire very often, sometimes Lady 
Clare, or Lady Berkeley, or Mrs. Creevey. Mrs. Fitzherbert 
was a great card-player, and played every night. The Prince 
never touched a card, and was occupied in talking to his guests, 
and very much in listening to and giving directions to his band. 
At 12 o'clock punctually the band stopped, and sandwiches 
and wine and water were handed about, and shortly after the 
Prince made a bow, and we all dispersed. I had heard a good 
deal of the Prince's drinking, but during the time I speak of, 
I never saw him the least drunk but once." . . . 

Creevey goes on to say : — 

"It used to be the Duke of Norfolk's ^ custom to come over 
every year from Arundel to pay his respects to the Prince and 
stay two days at Brighton, on both of which he always dined at 
the Pavihon. In the year 1804, upon this annual visit, the 
Prince had drunk so much as to be made very seriously ill by 
it, so that in 1805 (the year that I was there), when the Duke 
came, Mrs. Fitzherbert, who was always the Prince's best 
friend, was very much afraid of his being again made ill, and 
she persuaded the Prince to adopt different stratagems to avoid 
drinking with the Duke. I dined there on both days, and letters 
were brought in each day after dinner to the Prince, which he 
affected to consider of great importance, and so went out to 
answer them, while the Duke of Clarence went on drinking 
with the Duke of Norfolk. But on the second day this joke 
was carried too far, and in the evening the Duke of Norfolk 
showed he was affronted. The Prince took me aside and 
said, 'Stay after every one is gone to-night; the Jockey's got 
sulky, and I must give him a broiled bone to get him in a good 
humour again.' So, of course, I stayed, and about one o'clock 
the Prince of Wales and Duke of Clarence, the Duke of Norfolk 
and myself, sat down to a supper of broiled bones, the result of 

1 "The Creevey Papers," vol. i. pp. 47, 48. 

2 The eleventh Duke of Norfolk, known as "the Jockey," who died in 1815. 



274 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

which was that, having fallen asleep myself, I was awoke by 
the sound of the Duke of Norfolk's snoring. I found the 
Prince of Wales and the Duke of Clarence in a very animated 
discussion as to the particular shape and make of the wig worn 
by George II." ^ 

The Duke of Norfolk, "Jockey of Norfolk," was a friend 
of Fox, and in public affairs showed a certain amount of political 
talent, but we look in vain for any redeeming qualities in his 
private character. He was heartless in his dealing with men, 
and worse than heartless in his relations with women. Gross 
in his tastes, he affected low company and low pleasures; a 
glutton and a drunkard, so dirty was he in his personal habits 
that he rarely washed himself, and still more rarely changed his 
linen. He complained one day to Dudley North that he suffered 
from rheumatism, and had tried every remedy without effect.^ 
"Pray, my Lord Duke," said North, "did you ever try a clean 
shirt?" "Drunkenness," writes Sir Nathaniel Wraxall, "was 
in him an hereditary vice, transmitted down, probably, by his 
ancestors from Plantagenet times, and inherent in his forma- 
tion." 3 

Whenever the Duke came to Brighton, his appearance was 
the signal for an orgie. On one of these occasions he quarrelled 
with the royal brothers over some imaginary slight (he was 
always quarrelsome in his cups), and ordered his carriage to 
drive him back to Arundel. The Prince determined that he 
should not go, but it was useless to argue with him in his present 
condition. When the coach came round the Prince escorted 
the Duke to the door, and privately ordered the coachman to 
drive for half-an-hour round the Pavilion grounds. The Duke 
was so drunk that he did not know whither he was going; he 
fell asleep in the coach, and when it stopped he thought he was 
at the end of his journey. He was carried back into the Pavilion 
and put to bed. Under all the circumstances, it seemed the best 
thing to be done. This plain statement of the incident may be 
compared with Thackeray's distorted version in the "Four 

> "The Creevey Papers," vol. i. pp. 49-51- 

^ " On one side Duke Norfolk pushed forward with strife, 
For he never liked water throughout his whole life." 
The Times, March 1793, "O"^ the late Inundation in Old Palace Yard." 
3 Wraxall's "Memoirs of my own Time." 



THE PRINCE'S PLEASURE-HOUSE 275 

Georges," given below.^ One would gather from it that the 
Duke of Norfolk was a blameless old man, the innocent victim of 
a low trick on the part of the wicked Prince, instead of being 
what he was, one of the most hardened and disreputable old sots 
in existence. The scene was discreditable to every one concerned, 
but there was nothing in it to justify Thackeray's malevolent 
attack on the Prince, for we must take into account not only the 
Duke's character but the manners of the time, in which practical 
jokes and heavy drinking were common. " Men of all ages drink 
abominably," writes Sir Gilbert Elhot. "Fox drinks what I 
should call a great deal, though he is not reckoned to do so by his 
companions, Sheridan excessively, and Grey more than any of 
them. . . . Pitt, I am told, drinks as much as anybody." ^ 

In October our lively chronicler Creevey was called away 
from Brighton, but he left his wife behind him, to push his 
interests at the Pavilion. Though a handsome and agreeable 
woman, Mrs. Creevey does not seem to have been very success- 
ful with the Prince, but she made the running with Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert. The letters which she wrote to her husband from 
Brighton, allowing for exaggeration, give interesting accounts 
of the life at the Pavilion, and throw si-de-hghts on the relations 
between the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

1 "The Prince of Wales had concocted with his royal brothers a notable 
scheme for making the old man drunk. Every person at table was enjoined 
to drink wine with the Duke — a challenge which the old toper did not refuse. 
He soon began to see that there was a conspiracy against him; he drank glass 
for glass; he overthrew many of the brave. At last the First Gentleman of 
Europe proposed bumpers of brandy. One of the royal brothers filled a great 
glass for the Duke. He stood up and tossed off the drink. 'Now' said he, 
' I will have my carriage and go home.' The Prince urged upon him his previous 
promise to sleep under the roof where he had been so generously entertained. 
'No,' he said; 'he had had enough of such hospitality. A trap had been set 
for him; he would leave the place at once and never enter its doors more.' 

"The carriage was called, and came; but, in the half-hour's interval, the 
liquor had proved too potent for the old man; his host's generous purpose was 
answered, and the Duke's old grey head lay stupefied on the table. Neverthe- 
less, when his post-chaise was announced, he staggered to it as well as he could, 
and stumbling in, bade the postillions drive to Arundel. They drove him for 
half-an-hour round and round the Pavilion lawn; the poor old man fancied he 
was going home. When he awoke that morning, he was in bed at the Prince's 
hideous house at Brighton. ... I can fancy the flushed faces of the royal 
Princes as they support themselves at the portico pillars, and look on at old 
Norfolk's disgrace; but I can't fancy how the man who perpetrated it continued 
to be called a gentleman." — "The Four Georges." 

2 "Life and Letters of Sir Gilbert Elliot." 



276 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Mrs. Creevey writes to Mr. Creevey (October 29, 1805): 
"Oh, this wicked PaviKon! We were there till J past one this 
morning. . . . The Prince came up and sat by me — intro- 
duced McMahon^ to me and talked a great deal about Mrs. 
Fitzherbert — said she had been 'delighted' with my note and 
wished much to see m.e. He asked her, ' When ? ' — and he 
said her answer was, 'Not till you are gone, and I can see her 
comfortably.'' I suppose this might be correct, for Mac told 
me he had been 'worrying her to death' all the morning." ^ 

The heat of the Pavilion was a constant source of complaint 
among the Prince's guests. The Prince, who disliked cold 
intensely, had "a sort of patent stove" placed in the hall to 
heat the building, and it did so so effectually that his guests 
were nearly suffocated. The room in which the Prince dined 
was known among them as "the royal oven." It had a domed 
ceiling, and every particle of air was excluded; when the fire 
there was lighted and the patent stove was burning in the hall, 
the diners were nearly baked. This gave rise to one of Sheri- 
dan's witticisms. They were dining one day in the "royal 
oven" when Sheridan said to Hanger: "How do you feel your- 
self. Hanger?" "Hot, hot as hell," gasped Hanger, "It is 
quite right," said Sheridan, "that all of us here should be pre- 
pared in this world for what we may be sure will be our climate 
in the next." Mrs. Creevey suffered from "the climate" like 
the rest of the company, for she writes (November 5, 1805): 
"My head is very bad, I suppose with the heat of the Pavihon 
last night. We were there before Mrs. Fitzherbert came, 
and it almost made her faint, but she put on no airs to be 
interesting and soon recovered, and I had a great deal of com- 
fortable prose with her. . . . Before she came, he (the Prince) 
was talking of the fineness of the day, and said, ' But I was not 
out. I went to Mrs. Fitzherbert's at one o'clock, and stayed 
talking with her till past six, which was certainly very un- 
fashionable.' Now, was he not at that moment thinking of 
her as his lawful wife? for in no other sense could he call it 
unfashionable.^^ ^ 

Mrs. Creevey apparently quite lost her heart to Mrs. Fitz- 

1 The Right Hon. John McMahon, Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales. 

2 "The Creevey Papers," vol. i. p. 65. 

3 "The Creevey Papers," vol. i. pp. 67, 68. 



THE PRINCE'S PLEASURE-HOUSE 277 

herbert, whom she now calls "her mistress." She writes to 
her husband: ''Friday Night, 12 o'clock. ... I think you 
will hke to hear I have spent a very comfortable evening with 
my mistress. We had a long discourse about Lady Wellesley. 
The folly of men marrying such women led us to Mrs. Fox, 
and I think she would have liked to go further than I dared 
or than our neighbours would permit." ^ Mrs. Creevey either 
was deceived by the graciousness of Mrs. Fitzherbert's manner 
(she was always gracious to every one) or, having failed with 
the Prince, she was at pains to impress on her husband that she 
had secured a friend at court in Mrs. Fitzherbert. She writes: 
Past 4 o'clock, Monday: "Mrs. Fitzherbert came before 12, and 
has literally only this moment left me. We have been all the 
time alone, and she has been confidential to a degree that 
almost frightens me, and that I can hardly think sufficiently 
accounted for by her professing in the strongest terms to have 
liked me more and more every time she has seen me. ... So 
much in excuse for her telling me the history of her life, and 
dwelhng more particularly on the explanation of all her feelings 
and conduct towards the Prince. If she is as true as I think 
she is wise, she is an extraordinary person, and most worthy 
to be beloved." 

Now, with due reference to Mrs. Creevey (a very superior 
person to her husband), all we know of Mrs. Fitzherbert goes 
to show that she was the last woman in the world to give her- 
self away in this manner to a comparative stranger. She was, 
by long training, cautious in her conduct, and guarded in her 
conversation; especially on The Subject, as she called her 
relations with the Prince, her lips were always sealed, even to 
those who knew her best. She is very unlikely, therefore, to 
have unsealed them to Mrs. Creevey. Nor was she a woman 
to form sudden friendships, especially with the Creeveys, 
whose measure she must have taken at once, for people of their 
type were all too common at the Prince's court. She had a 
habit of looking blank, and smiling when questioned, and of 
affecting ignorance which led many people — Creevey among 
them — into the mistake of thinking her amiably stupid. 
Mrs. Creevey sends her husband a letter which was written 

1 "The Creevey Papers," vol. i. p. 70. 



278 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

to her by Mrs. Fitzherbert announcing the death of Nelson.* 
This letter was written at the time Mrs. Fitzherbert was sup- 
posed to be pouring forth these indiscreet confidences to her, 
yet it is couched in terms of formal civihty, not at all the sort 
of epistle one would write to a cherished confidante and friend. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert to Mrs. Creevey. 

"November 6, 1805. 

"D^ Madam, — The Prince has this moment rec^. an 
account from the Admiralty of the death of poor Lord Nelson, 
which has affected him most extremely. I think you may wish 
to know the news, which, upon any other occasion might be 
called a glorious victory — twenty out of three and thirty of 
the enemy's fleet being entirely destroyed — no English ship 
being taken or sunk — Capts. Duff and Cook both kill'd, and 
the French Adl. Villeneuve taken prisoner. Poor Lord Nelson 
rec'^. his death by a shot of a musket from an enemy's ship 
upon his shoulder, and expir'd two hours after, but not till the 
ship struck and afterwards sunk, which he had the consolation 
of hearing, as well as his compleat victory, before he died. 
Excuse this hurried scrawl ! I am so nervous I scarce can hold 
my pen. God bless you. Yours, u^. fitzherbert." ^ 

The news of Nelson's death greatly affected the Prince; 
he did not appear in public the day it was known, but spent 
the whole day alone with Mrs. Fitzherbert. Mrs. Creevey 
had something to say on this subject. She saw Mrs. Fitzherbert 
a few days later, and writes (November 8, 1805): "The first 
of my visits this morning was to my Mistress. ... I found 
her alone, and she was excellent — gave me an account of the 
Prince's grief about Lord N., and then entered into the domes- 
tic failings of the latter, in a way infinitely creditable to her, 
and skilful too. She was all for Lady Nelson, and against 
Lady Hamilton who, she said (hero though he was), over- 
power'd him, and took possession of him quite by force. But 
she ended in a good way, by saying, 'Poor creature! I am 
sorry for her now, for I suppose she is in grief.'" ^ 

1 The Battle of Trafalgar was fought, and Nelson died, on October 21, 1805. 

2 "The Creevey Papers," vol. i. pp. 69, 70. ^ Ibid., vol. i. pp. 70, 71. 



THE PRINCE'S PLEASURE-HOUSE 



279 



With Nelson's last dying request concerning Lady Hamilton 
the Prince heartily sympathised. He (the Prince) wrote to a 
friend:^ "You may be well assured that, did it depend on me, 
there would not be a wish, a desire of our ever-to-be-lamented 
and much-loved friend, as well as adored hero, that I would 
not consider as a solemn obligation upon his friends and his 
country to fulfil; it is a duty they owe to his memory, and his 
matchless and unrivalled excellence. Such are my sentiments; 
and I hope that there is still in this country sufficient honour, 
virtue, and gratitude to prompt us to ratify and to carry into 
effect the last dying request of our Nelson — by that means 
proving, not only to the whole world, but to future ages, that 
we were worthy of having such a man belonging to us." 

Unfortunately it did not depend upon the Prince, and the 
dirsegard of Nelson's dying wish by those in authority, and the 
hard fate of Lady Hamilton, are matters of history. The 
Prince had neither power nor influence either at court or with 
the Government. His advocacy did more harm than good, 
and for him to champion a cause was sufficient for it to be 
negatived. Never was heir-apparent in a position more gall- 
ing. But the Prince did all he could to show his respect for 
the dead hero's memory; he stopped all festivities at the Pavilion 
for ten days, and then, lest he should be thought unpatriotic 
(for whatever he did was wrong in the estimation of the King's 
court), he celebrated the victory of Trafalgar in great style. 
A superb illumination of the town of Brighton took place on 
November 14, and on the following day the Prince of Wales 
threw the PaviHon open for an "Inhabitants' ball." Every- 
thing was done magnificently. The Prince, we are told, 
attended by a large company of "fashionables," appeared in 
the ballroom "with all that amiable condescension for which 
he is so eminently and deservedly distinguished, but retired 
before supper, as did Mrs. Fitzherbert and her party, com- 
posed of about a dozen ladies of the first rank and fashion." 

1 Letter of the Prince of Wales to Mr. Alexander Davison. 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE SEYMOUR CASE ^ 
( 1 803-1806) 

During the years 1803-1806 Mrs. Fitzherbert found her- 
self involved in a protracted lawsuit concerning the custody 
of a Httle girl, Mary Seymour, who had been placed under her 
care, and whom she regarded as her ward and adopted daughter. 

Mary Seymour, for a time the object of much litigation, 
was the youngest orphan child of Lord Hugh and Lady Horatia 
Seymour.^ Lord Hugh Seymour was the fifth son of the first 
Marquess of Hertford. He married in 1786 the lovely Lady 
Horatia, third daughter of the second Earl Waldegrave, whose 
mother had married secondly the Duke of Gloucester. The 
Prince of Wales in 1786 had appointed Lord Hugh (then a 
captain in the navy) his Master of the Robes and Keeper of the 
Privy Purse. Lord Hugh married Lady Horatia soon after 
this appointment, and through his relations with the Prince he 
eame to know of his marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert. At this 
period Lord Hugh and Lady Horatia lived much in the Prince 
of Wales's set. Both held Mrs. Fitzherbert in high esteem, 
and between Mrs. Fitzherbert and Lady Horatia a warm 
friendship existed. In 1790 Lord Hugh was given a higher 

1 The facts related in this chapter concerning the Seymour case are based 
(a) upon a memorandum written by Admiral Sir George Seymour, G. C. B. 
(Mrs. Dawson Darner's eldest brother), and (6) on a Parliamentary paper, 
printed for the House of Lords. This paper contains all the letters and affidavits 
made on both sides before the Court of Chancery, and was issued for the infor- 
mation of the Peers when the case came before the House of Lords in 1806. 

2 Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour, fifth son of the first Marquess of Hertford, 
m. 1786 Lady Anne Horatia, third daughter of the second Earl Waldegrave. 
They both died in 1801, leaving issue five sons and two daughters, viz.: — ■ 

George Francis (Sir) Seymour, Admiral of the Fleet, G.C.B., d. 1870; Hugh 
Henry, Lt.-Col., d. 1821; Horace Beauchamp (Sir), K.C.B., Col., M.P., d. 
1851; William John Richard, b. 1793, d. 1801; Frederick Charles William, 
b. 1797, d. 1856; Horatia, m. 1814 John Philip Morier, d. 1853; Mary Georgiana 
Emma, b. 1798, m. 1825 Rt. Hon, G. L. Dawson Darner, d. 1848. 

280 



THE SEYMOUR CASE 



281 



appointment in the navy, and his duties took him to sea. For 
a time, therefore, neither he nor his v/ife saw much of the 
Prince of Wales or Mrs. Fitzherbert. In 1794 came the Prince's 
separation from Mrs. Fitzherbert, and in 1795 his marriage 
to Princess Carohne of Brunswick. Knowing that the Prince 
was already married to Mrs. Fitzherbert by a ceremony which, 
though not binding in law, was binding in honour. Lord Hugh 
strongly disapproved of the Prince's subsequent marriage to 
the Princess Carohne, and of all the circumstances connected 
with Lady Jersey. He felt that he could no longer continue 
even an honorary member of the Prince of Wales's household, 
and resigned his offices. This brought about an estrangement 
between the Prince and Lord Hugh, which lasted until the 
latter's death in 1801. But the friendship which he and Lady 
Horatia felt for Mrs. Fitzherbert continued unabated. 

Lady Horatia Seymour, who was the most beautiful of the 
three beautiful Waldegrave sisters, bore her husband a numer- 
ous family, five sons and two daughters. On November 23, 
1798, her last and youngest child, Mary, was born at Brompton. 
Lady Horatia was then in a very dehcate state of health — 
she had inherited the seeds of consumption, which were rapidly 
developing. The doctors declared that the only chance of 
saving her hfe was for her to go at once to Madeira, before the 
winter was further advanced. Unfortunately this involved 
separation from her infant, for the child was extremely delicate, 
and the doctors would not suffer her to be exposed to the risks 
of a sea voyage. Lady Horatia was greatly embarrassed and 
distressed, and in her dilemma she wrote to Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
who was then at Bath, and told her of her trouble. Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, on the strength of her long friendship, immediately 
wrote to Lady Horatia offering to go and see her, and to take 
charge of any of her children if it would make things easier 
for her. Lady Horatia replied to her from Brompton as 
follows : — 

"Dear Mrs. Fitzherbert, — The letter I received from 
you on Monday was just like yourself, everything that is kind, 
good, friendly, and comfortable to one's feelings. It appears 
to me quite certain that I shall leave this place on Monday, 
and shall be at Portsmouth on Tuesday, so pray meet us there 



282 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

as soon as you can after Tuesday. I do not foresee anything 
that will prevent us from leaving home that day, but if there 
should be I will let your know; at all events I will write a letter 
on Monday before I set out. Having got leave to take Frederick,^ 
I cannot bring myself to give him up again. I know exactly 
what you feel about taking care of one of them, and nothing 
would be a greater relief to my mind than leaving little Mary 
with you; but I know very well that the instant her little finger 
ached you would be frightened and make yourself ill, therefore 
as I cannot ensure her perfect health I think she had better be 
at Hambledon with Philhps, who will have no alarms. But 
we will talk all this over at Portsmouth; I cannot express how 
sincerely we feel your kindness." 

Mrs. Fitzherbert therefore went to see Lady Horatia at 
Portsmouth the first week in December 1798, travelHng thither 
from Bath. She found Lady Horatia with Lord Hugh Sey- 
mour and her sister the Countess of Euston. At Portsmouth 
Mrs. Fitzherbert repeated her offer, and it was then settled 
that the infant, Mary Seymour, should be committed to her 
care. The child was left at Brompton with the nurse, and it 
was agreed by the parents that she should be delivered into 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's hands as soon as she returned to London. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert testified on affidavit that this arrangement 
"appeared to afford infinite relief and comfort to the mind of 
Lady Horatia, and to give great satisfaction not only to Lord 
Hugh Seymour but to Lady Euston." She also declared that 
she was induced to take charge of the child "solely by her 
affection and friendship for Lady Horatia." The matter being 
thus arranged, Mrs. Fitzherbert left Portsmouth and returned 
to Bath to finish her "cure" there. 

Lady Horatia wrote Mrs. Fitzherbert the following letter 
the day after she left Portsmouth: — 

"My dear Mrs. Fitz,, — I was quite glad you were off 
somehow or other yesterday without my taking leave of you, as 
I felt as nervous as possible as long as I knew you were in the 
house, wishing, yet dreading, to see you. The ships are just 

" Frederick was Lady Horatia's youngest boy, then little more than a year old. 



THE SEYMOUR CASE 283 

come round, and Sir J. Laforey^ sends me word that we are 
to sail to-morrow, so I hope the wind will continue fair. I have 
written to Lady George Seymour"^ to tell her that little Mary is 
to he your child. There never was anything so kind and good 
as yourself, but it is impossible for me to express everything 
that I feel about you." 

The next day Lady Horatia sailed for Madeira. Mrs. 
Fitzherbert caught a severe chill on her journey from Ports- 
mouth, and in consequence she was detained at Bath for six 
weeks longer than she had intended to stay. She was there- 
fore not able at once to claim the infant Mary Seymour, who 
was meantime taken first to the house of her maternal aunt. 
Lady Euston, and then removed to the house of Lord George 
Seymour, her paternal uncle. Mrs. Fitzherbert returned to 
London in February 1799, and a few days later she received 
a message from Lord George Seymour, asking her to send for 
his niece, Mary Seymour, at once, as measles had broken out 
in his family. Mrs. Fitzherbert took away the little girl imme- 
diately, and brought her to her house in Tilney Street. From 
that day she became to her as though she were her own child. 

Later in the year (1799), Lord Hugh Seymour, the child's 
father, returned from Madeira, where he had left Lady Horatia, 
whose health was still precarious. During his stay in London 
he was daily at Mrs. Fitzherbert's house to see Httle Mary, 
or "Minney" as she was called, and he often expressed to Mrs. 
Fitzherbert his gratitude at the tender care she took of the 
child. Lady Horatia wrote to Mrs. Fitzherbert to the same 
effect. Lord Hugh was only in England two months; he then 
sailed for Jamaica, calhng at Madeira to take up Lady Horatia 
on his way thither. He never came back again to England. 
Lady Horatia remained with her husband in Jamaica for nearly 
two years, but the cHmate could not cure but only arrest the 
fatal progress of her disease. 

Early in June 1801 Lady Horatia returned to London and 
took a house in Charlotte Street, Portland Place, in order that 
she might have her children with her. The hand of death was 
already upon her. She was only in London about a month, 

1 Admiral Sir John Laforey, Bart. (1729-1796). 

2 Lady Horatia's sister-in-law. 



284 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

and then she went to Bristol, where she died, on July 12, 1801. 
Lord Hugh died in Jamaica on September 11 following, with- 
out having received the news of his wife's death. He left 
seven children, the youngest of whom, Mary, then three years 
of age, was still living under the care of Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

Lord Hugh Seymour's will came to hand some months 
later. In it he appointed the Earl of Euston and Lord Henry 
Seymour as his executors and as the guardians of his children, 
whom he mentioned by name. Mary was not mentioned, as 
the will had been made before she was born. The executors, 
however, thought that their guardianship extended to her as 
well, and as they (Lord Henry Seymour in particular) did not 
wish that the child should remain permanently with Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, they wrote to tell her that Lady Waldegrave, the 
child's aunt, was willing to undertake the care of the little girl, 
as soon as it was convenient to Mrs. Fitzherbert to give her up. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert was greatly distressed at this notiiication, and 
said that she had become so much attached to "Minney" that 
she should part from her with very great regret; she prayed 
that the removal of the child should be postponed until she 
was a little older. The executors, mindful of Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
kindness and generosity in the past, and also of the fact that 
the little girl was in a very delicate state of health, agreed to 
her request, and said that they would allow the child to remain 
another year, until June 1803. Before that time came, the 
Prince of Wales, in February 1803, sent a message to the 
executors, saying that he, as well as Mrs. Fitzherbert, had be- 
come so much attached to "Minney," and saw how much the 
child would suffer from being taken away from one who loved 
her as a mother, that he would settle £10,000 upon her, if they 
would consent to her remaining with Mrs. Fitzherbert. But 
the executors. Lord Henry Seymour especially, were inflexible. 
Lord Henry declined the Prince's offer, saying that his niece 
Mary would have sufficient fortune of her own (the equal share 
of her father's property which she had inherited), and he 
pointed out that Mrs. Fitzherbert was no kin to the child, 
who had many relatives in blood who were able and willing to 
take charge of her.^ He had therefore made arrangements for 

1 The nearest of kin of Miss Mary Seymour other than her brothers and 
sisters (who were infants) were: H.R.H. the Duchess of Gloucester, her maternal 




LADY HORATIA SEYMOUR 
{After a Miniature by GEORGE CoswAY, R.A., iy permission of Lady CONSTANCE Leslie) 



THE SEYMOUR CASE 285 

her to be placed under the care of her aunt, Lady Walde- 
grave. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert was overwhelmed with grief at the thought 
of losing the child; moreover, Lady Waldegrave was anything 
but a friend of Mrs. Fitzherbert's, and the separation would 
therefore be complete. The Prince, too, felt the loss keenly, 
and he vowed that he would not have the child torn from her 
home. He was always at Mrs. Fitzherbert's house in those 
days, and had become devoted to little Mary Seymour. The 
opposition of the executors, and the tears of Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
determined him to have things arranged as he wished. He 
consulted the ex-Lord Chancellor, Thurlow, who advised him 
to employ a young and rising lawyer named Romilly,^ who 
counselled Mrs. Fitzherbert to refuse to yield up the child. 
Romilly argued that the right to the custody of the infant Mary 
Seymour assumed by the executors of her father's will was 
unfounded, as they were only appointed co-guardians with 
Lady Horatia in the event of her second marriage. More- 
over, the will was made before Mary was born. The result 
was that, in July 1803, Mr. Bentinck, an intimate friend of 
Lord Hugh Seymour, who was named as "next friend of the 
Appellant," caused a Bill to be filed in the Court of Chancery 
against Lord Euston and Lord Henry Seymour, who claimed 
the guardianship of all the children of the late Lord Hugh 
Seymour, including Mary. 

The case was argued at length. It is worthy of note that 
no objection was raised to Mrs. Fitzherbert on the ground of 
her peculiar position with the Prince of Wales, which (unless 
she was his wife) might surely have disquaHfied her from acting 
as the guardian of a female child of high birth connections. 
On the contrary, the Attorney General, who appeared for Lord 
Euston and Lord Henry Seymour, began his speech by saying 
that "Mrs. Fitzherbert merited everything that could be said 

grandmother; the Marquess of Hertford, Lord Henry Seymour, Lord Robert 
Seymour, Lord William Seymour, Lord George Seymour, her paternal uncles; 
the countess of Lincoln, Lady Elizabeth Seymour, Lady Isabella Hatton, her 
paternal aunts; the Countess Waldegrave and the Countess of Euston, her 
maternal aunts; H.H. Prince William Frederick of Gloucester, her maternal 
uncle of the half-blood, and H.H. Princess Sophia Matilda of Gloucester, her 
maternal aunt of the half-blood. 

1 Afterwards Sir Samuel Romilly (1757-1818), K.C., M.P., Solicitor-General 



286 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

in her praise ; but whatever amiable qualities she might possess, 
the religion she professed excluded her from the right to retain 
the custody of a Protestant child." Mr. Romilly, for Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, insisted "that there could be no danger to the 
religion of the child from the influence of Mrs. Fitzherbert," 
and added that "the child's residence with Mrs. Fitzherbert 
would not only be the means of her fortune accumulating by 
the time of her coming of age, but that she would derive pe- 
cuhar advantage from the patronage and the protection of the 
Prince of Wales!" 

A statement of facts was presented, Mrs. Fitzherbert being 
described as "Maria Fitzherbert, Widow," and many affidavits 
were sworn to. From them we quote the following : ^ — 

Mrs. Fitzherbert in her affidavit (in addition to the facts 
connected with the handing over of the child to her care already 
related) testified: 

"That upon Lady Horatia's return to England in 1801 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, uncertain whether she might not think herself 
well enough, and chuse to resume the child, went to converse 
with her on that subject, but Lady Horatia (perceiving her 
emotion at the idea of parting with the child, for which Mrs. 
Fitzherbert had then contracted a maternal affection) answered, 
shedding tears, ' Don't think I could be so unfeeling as to take 
her from you,' and on Mrs. Fitzherbert asking her what she was 
to do with it, she answered, ' Pray, keep it, and do with it as you 
please, and as you have done; as I consider it is more your child 
than my own:' or used words to that effect: 

"That the Appellant^ was daily afterwards, during Lady 
Horatia's stay in town, sent to visit her, but she particularly 
desired that Mrs. Fitzherbert should continue to have the 
uncontrolled management of her, and send her only when and 
as she should think proper: ... 

1 These affidavits were afterwards printed in a Parliamentary Paper which 
is thus entitled : — 

House of Lords. 
Between 
Mary Georgiana Emma Seymour, an Infant, by William Bentinck, 
Esquire, her next friend, Appellant. 

The Right Honourable George Fitzeoy, commonly called the Earl of 
Euston, and the Honourable Henry Seymour, commonly called Lord Henry 
Seymour, Respondents. 

2 The infant, Mary Seymour, herein called the Appellant: 



THE SEYMOUR CASE 287 

"That Mrs. Fitzherbert having, when Lady Horatia finally 
resigned the Appellant to her care in the manner before stated, 
given her to understand that she would accept and thenceforth 
consider the Appellant as her adopted child; she had ever since 
felt herself to be under an obligation of the most solemn nature 
to discharge towards the Appellant, to the utmost of her power, 
all the duties of a mother; to which she was no less impelled 
by the maternal affection she bore towards the Appellant; and 
she was therefore earnestly desirous to be permitted to continue 
the care and charge of the Appellant; and in case the Court 
should think proper to appoint her Guardian, she intended and 
was willing to undertake to continue to maintain and educate 
her in a manner suitable to her future fortune and expectations, 
at her own expense, in order that the whole income of the 
Appellant's fortune might accumulate for her benefit: 

"That the Appellant is a child of uncommonly early dis- 
cernment and of great facility in learning, and Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
being desirous of giving her every advantage in education, and 
that she should be bred up in the principles of the Church of 
England, did in the early part of the then last winter, apply to 
the Bishop of Winchester to take on him the superintendence 
of her religious education, and to recommend to her a clergyman 
of the Church of England to proceed in instructing her in reading 
(in which she was very forward) and to commence and take the 
conduct of her education in the principles of religion: 

"That the Bishop compHed with her request, and recom- 
mended the Rev. Mr. Crofts, preacher at Portland Chapel, as 
a proper tutor for the Appellant, by whom she had been attended 
and instructed accordingly, and she had been occasionally ex- 
amined by the Bishop, who was well satisfied with her progress : 

"That although Mrs. Fitzherbert was bred in the Roman 
Catholic faith, she always entertained and expressed the opinion 
that a child ought to be educated in the religion professed by 
its parents; and that certainly the daughter of a great family, 
such as the Appellant, ought to be educated in the Established 
religion of her country: 

"That Mrs. Fitzherbert had in fact educated a child of 
inferior condition, born in her own house, in that religion, 
thinking it more advantageous for her; for though Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert professed the tenets of the Cathohc rehgion in which 



288 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

she was educated, she did not consider it her duty either to 
make converts or to educate the children of Protestants in the 
Cathohc rehgion; and she felt that to attempt to educate the 
Appellant in a rehgion different from that of her parents, would 
be a gross breach of the confidence reposed in her, and of that 
duty she had undertaken to discharge: 

"That the Appellant was of a delicate constitution and of 
a very tender and affectionate disposition, and having known 
no other mother than Mrs. Fitzherbert, she was bound to her 
by as strong ties of affection as she could possibly have been to 
her natural mother; and the separation of her from Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert would deeply affect her mind and not improbably 
impair her health, whilst to Mrs. Fitzherbert, by depriving her 
of an object of her most tender affection, and of the means of 
discharging her engagement to her dying friend, it would prove 
the source of unspeakable and lasting affliction." 

The Prince of Wales also made an affidavit, sworn Novem- 
ber 24, 1804. He stated, "That a great intimacy and friendship 
subsisted between his Royal Highness and Lord Hugh Seymour 
and Lady Horatia: 

"That the Appellant having been entrusted by Lord Hugh 
and Lady Horatia, during the absence of Lady Horatia from 
England, between the latter end of the year 1798 and the 
Spring of 1801, on account of her health, to the care of Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, his Royal Highness frequently saw and by degrees 
became much attached to the Appellant, as well on her own 
account as on that of her parents: 

"That about the month of June 1801, Lady Horatia having 
some little time before returned to England in a very declining 
state of health, his Royal Highness received a message from 
her requesting him to call upon her at a house in which she 
then resided, situated in Charlotte Street, Portland Place, the 
ensuing morning, which his Royal Highness accordingly did, 
but was not admitted, her servant informing him that she was 
laid down and asleep: That the same evening his Royal High- 
ness received a note from her Ladyship, strongly expressive of 
her disappointment that he did not come in, and desiring him 
earnestly to call again the next day, and to take no refusal of 
admittance : 



THE SEYMOUR CASE 289 

"That his Royal Highness accordingly called upon Lady 
Horatia the following morning, when he found her in an ex- 
tremely debilitated state of health; that she appeared for some 
time overcome with the strong emotions of mind and body 
which she felt upon his Royal Highness's first appearance, but 
at length, having attained a degree of composure, she began a 
conversation with him to the following effect: She first stated 
how little time she had apparently to live, which her own inward 
feelings sufficiently warned her of; and when his Royal Highness 
tried to divert her ideas from such melancholy prospects, she 
desired him to be silent and not to interrupt her, as she had 
much to say to him, and could not be answerable how long her 
powers would enable her to converse at all; and most particu- 
larly therefore was she thus anxious, as the purport of what she 
had to say to his Royal Highness was the request of a dying 
mother in behalf of her child. 

"Lady Horatia then commenced by talking much of Lord 
Hugh Seymour, and expressed both her own and his Lordship's 
extreme satisfaction at the renewal of that friendship and good 
understanding between his Lordship and his Royal Highness, 
which had existed for so many years (but which for a short 
period had met with some slight interruption). She then called 
the Appellant to her, who had been sitting upon the knee of 
his Royal Highness for some time during the foregoing part of 
the conversation. She remarked what a lovely sweet babe the 
Appellant was ; how fond the child appeared to be of his Royal 
Highness, and how extremely his Royal Highness appeared to 
be attached to the Appellant; she thanked him in very warm 
expressions of gratitude for the affection he had shown her, and 
observed how fortunate she had been in meeting with such a 
friend as Mrs. Fitzherbert had been to her under all circum- 
stances, with whom to leave the child, and not only expressed 
her strong approbation of the condition she found the child in, 
but her complete satisfaction at her happy situation under 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's care. 

"She then adverted to a conversation she had had with 
Mrs. Fitzherbert in consequence of her offer to deliver up the 
child, and said she doubted not she had told his Royal Highness 
what had passed; and added she hoped her mind was made 
easy on that head; she said it wounded her to the heart to think 



290 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

what Mrs. Fitzherbert must have suffered whilst making up 
her mind to dehver up the Appellant; spoke of the handsome 
manner in which she had proposed it, and said, ' She would not 
he so unfeeling as to take it from her,'' adding, ' The child knows 
no other mother than her, and that she had directed her to do 
with it as her own.' She observed that Mrs. Fitzherbert must 
be more attached to the Appellant than she could be, having 
hardly ever seen her, and Mrs. Fitzherbert had had her almost 
constantly with her from her birth; remarking at the same time 
that she could hardly have believed, from the state of health 
she was in at the time of her lying-in, that she could have borne 
so fine an infant, or expressed herself to that effect: and Lady 
Horatia then blessed both Mrs. Fitzherbert and his Royal 
Highness for the extreme affection and care they had each of 
them shown towards the Appellant; 'but,' added she, 'I have 
something more, Prince of Wales, to say to you; recollect that 
it is the last request of a dying mother, and that is that you 
will take an oath and swear to me most solemnly that you will 
be the father and protector, through life, of this dear child.' 
Whereupon his Royal Highness accordingly, without the 
smallest hesitation, gave his most solemn engagement to her 
to fulfil to his utmost her request, and Lady Horatia then said 
that she should 'die content, and that God would reward his 
Royal Highness for it.' She then appeared to be perfectly 
relieved, called down the other children, and a short time after 
the Countess of Euston was announced, when a general con- 
versation commenced, and his Royal Highness shortly after 
took his leave, and never saw Lady Horatia afterwards." 

An affidavit was also sworn to by the Bishop of Winchester, 
as follows: — 

"That in the early part of the then last winter, the Deponent 
was applied to by letter from Mrs. Fitzherbert stating the 
circumstances of the Appellant then under her care, expressing 
her wish that the Appellant should be educated in the principles 
of the Church of England, and requesting that the Deponent 
would recommend some clergyman of the Church of England 
who could attend and instruct her in the principles of that 
Church. 

"That his Lordship accordingly applied to the Rev. Mr. 
Crofts, preacher at Portland Chapel, who willingly undertook 



THE SEYMOUR CASE 291 

that office; and that His Lordship had several times heard from 
and conversed with Mr. Crofts upon the subject, who assured 
his Lordship that his employment was attended with great 
satisfaction and success; that the Appellant had made great 
progress in the Catechism of the Church of England, had read 
several books of instruction in the principles of that Churchy 
and promised (as far as a child of her age could promise) to be 
a firm and steady member of it. That his Lordship had since 
occasionally seen the Appellant and had heard her read, and 
conversed with her, and from his own observation was per- 
suaded that the account he received from Mr. Crofts was just 
and true." 

In addition to the Bishop's testimony, there was an affidavit 
to the same effect from the clergyman appointed to instruct 
Miss Seymour in the doctrines of the Church of England. 
There were also affidavits from Sir Walter Farquhar and other 
eminent physicians to the effect that it would seriously injure 
the child's health to separate her from Mrs. Fitzherbert; "that 
she was a child of delicate constitution and great sensibility of 
mind," and "the warm and parental attentions shown to her 
by Mrs. Fitzherbert were always returned with a love and 
affection bordering on adoration." The shock of separation 
would therefore be so great that the doctors dechned to answer 
for the consequences. 

General William Keppel, Governor of Martinique, who saw 
a great deal of Lord Hugh and Lady Horatia Seymour when 
they were in the West Indies, alsd swore that Lady Horatia 
spoke of Mrs. Fitzherbert frequently with great affection, and 
said how glad she was that she had. charge of her daughter 
Mary. 

This, with some other evidence, chiefly unimportant, was 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's case. On the other hand, the executors, 
Lord Henry Seymour and the Earl of Euston, based their claim 
for the guardianship of the child on several counts, which may 
be summarised as follows : — 

(i.) Because their propinquity of blood gave them a decided 
preference over Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

(2.) Because the child's father, by implication, wished it; 
that is, he appointed them guardians of his other children. 

(3.) Because Mrs. Fitzherbert was a complete stranger in 



292 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

blood, despite . the friendship and affection which existed 
between her and the child's parents. 

(4.) Because the conversation between the Prince of Wales 
and Lady Horatia, when it was alleged she confided her child 
to the Prince's guardianship, had been misunderstood by his 
Royal Highness. 

(5.) Because of the religion of Mrs. Fitzherbert. This the 
executors declared constituted a positive and unsurmountable 
objection to her. The affidavit of the Bishop of Winchester 
by no means removed or diminished their objections. 

The Countess of Euston made an affidavit which conflicted 
with that sworn to by the Prince of Wales concerning his inter- 
view with Lady Horatia. Lady Euston testified: 

"That she was sitting with Lady Horatia when the Prince 
of Wales came into the room to visit her in Charlotte Street, 
and stayed with her until within a few minutes of his taking 
his leave. That in the evening, when the Countess again 
visited her, she told the Countess that after she was gone in 
the morning, the Prince had mentioned Lord Hugh and all her 
children in a most gracious and affectionate manner, which 
had made her very happy, as she knew that Lord Hugh had 
always been very sincerely attached to the Prince, although their 
friendship had been interrupted for some years, and the Prince's 
protection might some time or other be of great advantage to 
her sons, and that Lady Horatia wrote immediately to Lord 
Hugh (which letter the Countess saw, as well as his answer) 
expressing his satisfaction at the Prince's gracious message to 
him, and that Lady Horatia did not mention any other conver- 
sation as having passed, either to Lord Hugh or to the Countess." 

Lady Euston made a further affidavit with reference to 
what passed between Lady Horatia and Mrs. Fitzherbert con- 
cerning the custody of the child at Portsmouth, when Mrs. 
Fitzherbert went thither in 1798. This conflicted in some 
points with Mrs. Fitzherbert's version of the interview. Lady 
Euston stated that, though she was not present at the interview, 
she went to her sister immediately after Mrs. Fitzherbert left. 
"She found Lady Horatia very much out of spirits, and seeming 
to regret that she had promised Mrs. Fitzherbert the care of 
her little girl during her absence. She said that she would 
much prefer her being with Lord and Lady George Seymour, 



THE SEYMOUR CASE 293 

but that happened to be inconvenient at the moment, as they 
were just then changing houses. Lady Euston said that the 
child could go to Lord and Lady George Seymour after all, as 
they would soon be settled. Lady Horatia after a pause re- 
plied, 'If I now change my mind, Mrs. Fitzherbert will think 
me unkind and capricious, and it does not much signify, for 
you know I shall be back in the Spring, and she can only have 
the child for a very short time.' When Lady Horatia returned 
to England in June 1801 she intended to have Mary with her, 
but her health was very bad, and the house in Charlotte Street 
was so small that she consented to her staying with Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert a little longer, more especially as Mrs. Fitzherbert 
prayed hard to keep the little one, and grieved greatly at the 
thought of parting from her. Lady Horatia consented, saying 
she would not be so unfeeling as to take her away suddenly 
after all she had done for her, but to Lady Euston Lady Horatia 
said, 'I shall never cease pitying Mrs. Fitzherbert. She has 
just told me that she had heard I was coming to England to 
lye in, and that she had rejoiced at it, thinking that if I had 
another little girl, I might then have allowed her to keep little 
Minney. As there was no truth in the report, it was not worth 
arguing about it, but I think poor Mrs. Fitzherbert must feel 
that if I had fifty daughters I could part with none of them to 
her.'" 

The Countess Waldegrave, Lady Horatia's other sister, 
also made an affidavit to much the same effect as Lady Euston, 
stating that the arrangement of leaving the child in Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert's care was only a temporary one. 

The case occupied many months. At last, in February 
1805, the Master in Chancery, having considered all the cir- 
cumstances of the case, reported in favour of Lord Euston and 
Lord Henry Seymour, and approved of them as guardians of 
the child. Mrs. Fitzherbert was determined not to be beaten, 
and, supported by the Prince of Wales, she carried the case to 
a higher court. It was argued there, but with no better result, 
for in April 1805 the Lord Chancellor (Eldon) confirmed the 
report of the Master in Chancery. 

Matters now began to look serious, and Mrs. Fitzherbert 
was in despair at the prospect of losing the child. Erskine, 
who had been employed with Romilly as Mrs. Fitzherbert's 



294 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

counsel in the case in Chancery, advised an appeal to the House 
of Lords as a last resort. The appeal was duly lodged in 1805, 
but had to stand over until the next session of Parliament. 
Shortly after this there was a change in the Government, and 
Erskine, Mrs. Fitzherbert's friend, became Lord Chancellor in 
the place of Lord Eldon, who had decided against her. Mean- 
while Mrs. Fitzherbert, anxious to leave no stone unturned, 
had, through the Marchioness of Hertford, with whom she 
was on terms of friendship, enlisted the sympathies of the 
Marquess of Hertford. Lord Hertford, as the child's eldest 
paternal uncle and head of the great house of Seymour, was a 
most valuable ally, and he and Lady Hertford joined with 
Mrs. Fitzherbert and the Prince of Wales to prevent little 
Mary Seymour falHng into other hands than those of Mrs. 
Fitzherbert. The Prince threw himself con amove into the fray; 
he negotiated with the Hertfords, he intrigued with his friends, 
and before the case came before the House of Lords, he can- 
vassed all the peers for their votes — an unheard-of proceeding, 
as they were sitting on appeal as judges. However, the Prince's 
activity met with success, for the whole of the peers promised 
him their votes, except the Duke of Gloucester, half-brother of 
Lady Horatia Seymour, Lord Eldon, ex-Lord Chancellor, and 
eleven others. 

The case created great excitement in all classes of society; 
the rank and peculiar position of the parties contributing to 
the general interest. When the day came for the case to be 
argued in the House of Lords, the peers mustered in force; a 
great number of peeresses were also present, and the galleries 
were crowded. But those who had come in quest of sensation 
were disappointed. At the beginning of the proceedings. Lord 
Hertford intervened, saying it was painful to him, as the head 
of his house, to have a family matter like this debated by 
strangers, and if their Lordships would decide that he should 
be made the guardian of his niece (together with Lady Hert- 
ford), he was willing to undertake the charge, on the express 
understanding that he should be unfettered in its exercise. 
This was agreed to unanimously; there was no division, for the 
majority of the peers were obviously on Lord Hertford's side. 
Lord Chancellor Erskine, therefore, reversed the decree of his 
predecessor, and the child was handed over to the guardianship 



THE SEYMOUR CASE 295 

of Lord and Lady Hertford. Lord Hertford at once requested 
Mrs. Fitzherbert to act as his deputy, and to continue to show 
herself, as she had done since his brother's death, a mother to 
his niece. The rest of Lord Hertford's family, whatever might 
be their private opinion, could only bow to his decision. Thus 
ended the great Seymour case, which had occupied from first 
to last more than three years. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert was overjoyed at being assured in the 
guardianship of her beloved child, and declared that nothing 
now was wanting to her happiness. All her friends congratu- 
lated her, among them being the Duke of Kent, who wrote to 
her as follows : — 

H.R.H. the Duke 0} Kent to Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

"Kensington Palace, 

"Monday, June 16, 1806. 

"My dearest Mrs. Fitzherbert, — It was fully my 
intention to have called in Tilney Street yesterday, to have 
expressed to you all the satisfaction I felt, at the issue of Satur- 
day evening, but was prevented by several people coming in 
on me unexpectedly whom I was obliged to see. I feel anxious 
not to delay conveying my sentiments to you any longer, and 
therefore adopt this mode of so doing lest I should be unable 
to see you as soon as I could wish. Accept then the assurance 
of my best wishes on this, as well as on every occasion in which 
your happiness is concerned, and believe me it is no small 
gratification to me to reflect that I have had the opportunity of 
proving, by my conduct, that in saying this, I am far from 
meaning empty professions.^ Pray give my love to your little 
Angel; and allow me to subscribe myself with the truest friend- 
ship, and warmest regard, my dear Mrs. Fitzherbert, ever 
yours most faithfully and sincerely, ^cp, „ 

Mrs. Fitzherbert's own feelings are expressed in the follow- 
ing letter which she wrote to Mrs. Browne,^ a daughter of Lord 
Thurlow, three days after Lord Hertford's action. Lord 

> The Duke of Kent had promised his vote and influence in the House of 
Lords to Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

2 CaroHne, natural daughter of Edward Lord Thurlow, married General 
Browne, an Equerry of the Duke of York. 



296 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Thurlow had from the first interested himself in the case, and 
had unofficially advised the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

Mrs. Fitzherberi to Mrs. Browne. 

"TiLNEY StEEET, 

"Tuesday, June 17, 1806. 

"My dear Mrs. Browne, — Words cannot do justice to 
the happiness I enjoy at the thought of having my darling child 
secured to me, after the long series of misery and anxiety I 
have endured. The good news of my having gained my case, 
so completely overset me that I have scarce been myself ever 
since. Thank your dear Father from me a million of times, 
and tell him I shall not feel my happiness complete till I and 
my Child in person make our acknowledgments, and bless 
him for all the interest he has taken, and thank him for all the 
trouble we have given him. I am going on Sunday out of 
town for a week to recruit a little, for both my health and 
spirits have suffered grievously during this persecution. I 
must tell you that Lady Waldegrave came to town on purpose, 
wrote to all the press to support her, turned out the people she 
had let her house to in Berkeley Square and fixed herself in it, 
telling everybody my poor Child was to go to reside with her 
on Saturday evening. What a horrid creature she is! Thank 
God she has been disappointed. Pray say everything most 
kind to Mrs. Harvey and excuse this hurried scrawl, as I have a 
hundred notes and letters to write. God bless you. If I can 
get to you before Sunday, I will ; but you know I am not always 
my own mistress. Adieu, dear Mrs. Browne, and believe me 
always, very truly and affectionately yours, 

"M. Fitzherbert." 



CHAPTER XXII 

"the delicate investigation" 

(I806-I808) 

Soon after the Seymour case was settled, Mrs. Fitzherbert 
went down to Brighton for the rest of the summer, and took 
her adopted daughter with her. Lady Jerningham, who was 
at Brighton, writes (August 10, 1806): "On Sunday last, after 
I had closed my letter to you, arrived (on foot) Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert and little Miss Seymour, a pretty child of not quite 
eight years old, and a Httle taller than Agnes. Mrs. Fitzherbert 
was very pleasing and conversible, said she imputed her late 
ill-health to the uneasiness she had undergone over this little 
girl, that she was particularly fond of children, and should 
have hked to have had a dozen of her own." 

Lady Jerningham then gives an account of the Prince's 
hospitahty at the Pavihon, which may fairly be contrasted with 
Mr. and Mrs. Creevey's highly-coloured descriptions of the 
PaviUon entertainments the previous year. Lady Jerningham 
was an unprejudiced witness, and she finds there nothing but 
pohteness and decorum. She continues her letter: — 

"About 8 o'clock I had a note from her [Mrs. Fitzherbert] 
saying she was ordered by the Prince to desire we would go 
that evening to the Pavihon, so we put ourselves immediately 
in proper attire and went at 10 o'clock, the usual hour. The 
Prince, having dined at Lord Berkeley's with all his set, we 
found him alone returned, with a Major Bloomfield^ who is 
always in attendance upon him. When the door of the Long 
Chinese room opened, and I saw him and the Major solus at 
the other end, I stopped a minute uncertain whether to enter. 
He called out ' Come in' and then ran down the room to make 

1 Benjamin Bloomfield, first Lord Bloomfield (1768-1846), sometime Chief 
Equerry to the Prince of Wales, afterwards Keeper of the Privy Purse to George 
IV. 

297 



298 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

excuses for the peremptory order, saying he did not know who 
was at the door. He then welcomed us all four, and it is really 
not to be described how amiably polite and fascinating his 
manners are — on his own ground. The most finished civility, 
joined to the utmost degree of good-natured affability. . . We 
were about a quarter of an hour thus, en Societe, and then 
arrived Mrs. Fitzherbert, who told me she had written the note 
at Lord Berkeley's during dinner, by the Prince's order. Be- 
fore she arrived, he said to me, ' So you had old Grujjy at dinner. 
How is he ? ' (Lord Thurlow — I had mentioned to Mrs. 
Fitzherbert that we expected him.) . . . On the Pavilion 
nights two rooms are open. There are card tables in the long 
room, and the Prince's band of German musicians playing in 
the next. He is uncommonly fond of musick. Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert usually is at cards, Mrs. Walpole also; the other ladies 
walk about or converse softly, for there reigns a proper sub- 
ordination in the apartment, and his affabihty is not abused 
of." 1 

One of the results of the Seymour case was to revive the 
prejudice against Mrs. Fitzherbert on account of her religion. 
The case had excited great public interest, and the decision of 
the House of Lords was anything but popular. As Lord 
Hertford had satisfied himself of Mrs. Fitzherbert's good faith 
in the matter of his niece's religion, and the other members 
of the Seymour family had bowed to his decision, this matter 
(which was essentially a family one) should have been allowed 
to drop. But the press and the public thought differently, 
and the case, in all its aspects, was discussed for many months 
afterwards, and into the discussion was .imported all the bitter- 
ness of the odium theologicum. 

By the No-Popery party it was thought a terrible thing that 
a Protestant child should be handed over to the care of a 
"Papist woman," even though a Bishop of the Church of Eng- 
land superintended the child's religious education; and the 
Prince's undisguised efforts in the House of Lords helped to 
make him still more unpopular with that section of the populace. 
Violent articles appeared in the press, and the Protestant 
prejudice found vent in the inevitable cartoons. One of them 

1 The "Jerningham Letters." 



"THE DELICATE INVESTIGATION" 299 

was entitled, ''To he or not to he — a Protestant." Little Mary 
Seymour is represented sitting on a sofa, holding a book in her 
hand, entitled, "A mother's advice to her daughter respecting 
the true principles of the Protestant religion." Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert is depicted wearing a rosary and crucifix, and having in 
her hand a book entitled, " Directions from the priests respecting 
the duty of a true Catholic in converting all." At an open 
door appears a monk, who thus addresses . Mrs. Fitzherbert: 
"Well done, my daughter, you are now serving our holy religion. 
You shall next use your influence to procure us Emancipation." 
The injustice of this is manifest. Mrs. Fitzherbert had taken 
every precaution to secure that the child should be brought up 
in the principles of the Church of England, and in advancing 
the question of Emancipation she took no part whatever. But 
it serves as a specimen of the abuse and misrepresentations to 
which she was subjected on account of her religion. 

Popular feeHng undoubtedly ran high against Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert at this time, and it was increased by the pubHcation of 
a scandalous production, written by one Jeffries, a bankrupt 
jeweller, which was circulated far and wide. In 1790, shortly 
after the unsuccessful struggle for the Regency, when the Prince 
was sunk in debt and difficulties which Mrs. Fitzherbert shared, 
the Prince changed his jeweller (always an important func- 
tionary with him), the former jeweller not having been suffi- 
ciently accommodating in an evil hour. He appointed Jeffries 
of Piccadilly to take his. place. The appointment of jeweller 
to the Prince of Wales was eagerly coveted, for not only did the 
Prince buy many jewels for himself and his favourites without 
ever asking the price, but he occasionally borrowed money at 
exorbitant interest. Moreover his patronage brought great 
custom. On one occasion, to defray some pressing debt in- 
curred by Mrs. Fitzherbert on account of the Prince, the Prince 
borrowed of Jeffries ;^i6oo. The Prince, who was always 
affable, called at Jeffries' shop a few days afterwards and brought 
Mrs. Fitzherbert with him to thank the jeweller, as he said, 
"for having accommodated him in that little matter so quickly." 
Jeffries was much puffed up by this visit of the Prince, but 
he took a dislike to Mrs. Fitzherbert, because she did not 
thank him with equal effusion. He perceived "a look of 
mortified pride on her countenance," which perhaps was natural 



300 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

under the circumstances. She instinctively distrusted the fawn- 
ing creature, and his grievance against her was increased by his 
inabihty to induce her to run deeply into his debt. She only 
purchased jewels of him to the extent of ;^i20, and the money 
was promptly paid. As the loan of ;^i6oo was also repaid with 
interest by the Prince, it is difficult to see what grievance the 
man could have had against Mrs. Fitzherbert. Nevertheless 
he pursued her with unceasing malignity. 

When the Prince's betrothal to the Princess Caroline was 
announced, Jeffries loudly rejoiced at Mrs. Fitzherbert's down- 
fall, and quoted imaginary conversations he had had with the 
Prince on the subject. Jeffries received from the Prince an 
order for wedding jewels, for which he ran up an extortionate 
bill. He anticipated its payment in full and, his fortune made, 
he threw up his business. He launched into extravagant ex- 
penditure, and contrived to get himself elected member for 
Coventry, which led a wit to say, "It would seem there was as 
much disgrace in being sent from Coventry as in being sent to 
it." When the Prince's debts came before the Commission 
appointed by Parliament after his marriage, Jeffries' exorbitant 
bill came with them, and the Commission docked his charges 
lo per cent. This reduction Jeffries declared brought him to 
bankruptcy, and he seized upon it as an excuse to justify his 
personal extravagance. He could not meet his bills, and was 
thrown into prison for debt. He came out two or three years 
later, with rage and hatred in his heart against Mrs. Fitzherbert 
and the Prince of Wales, who by that time were reconciled. 
He then wrote a pamphlet asserting that he had been cheated 
out of ;^30,ooo by the Prince of Wales, for which he could get 
no redress. So far from this being the case, he was known to 
have pocketed a clear ;^i 5,000 from the royal patronage. 
Jeffries upbraided the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Fitzherbert 
for their "ingratitude," declared that they treated him with 
contumely, and said that once when he met them walking 
arm-in-arm on the Steine at Brighton "they regarded him with 
scorn." It is probable that they never gave him a thought, 
for Mrs. Fitzherbert barely knew the man by sight. His hatred 
of her and the Prince amounted to a mania, and no calumnies 
were too black for his vindictive malice. He seized upon the 
Seymour case as an opportunity to vent his malignity, but his 



"THE DELICATE INVESTIGATION" 301 

poisoned shafts might have fallen wide of the mark, had it not 
been for "the delicate investigation." 

In 1806 the disagreements between the Prince and Princess 
of Wales again assumed the form of public scandal. Except 
for the differences with regard to the Princess Charlotte, differ- 
ences which for the moment seemed to have been adjusted, the 
ill-matched pair left each other severely alone. Even those 
busybodies who concerned themselves with the private affairs 
of other people seemed content that they should remain so, and 
the reason given for their separation, incurable incompatibihty 
of temper, was generally accepted as sufhcient. The Princess 
was living at Blackheath, she was received at court with all 
respect; the King and the nation were on her side, she had 
many friends, she saw her daughter when she wished, she 
had all the money she needed. Seeing, therefore, that she had 
never made any pretence of loving her husband, she was not 
so much to be pitied. Her position as Princess of Wales was 
far better than it would have been had she remained at the 
court of Brunswick. She had only to conduct herself with 
ordinary discretion, and her future was assured. Unfortunately 
this was what the Princess could not do. Her unruly tongue, 
which had already got her into much trouble, was always 
blurting out some indiscretion. Her conversation was free, 
open, and coarse, and she discussed with all sorts of men and 
women, not only the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Fitzherbert, but 
other members of the royal family, especially the Queen, whom 
she held up to ridicule as "de old Begum." There was not a 
spark of malice about her, and a certain ready wit and rough 
good-humour were apparent in all she said, but what she said 
did not lose in the re-telling. Her conduct in company, like 
her conversation, left much to be desired. Without doing 
anything absolutely wrong, she behaved in the most indiscreet 
way, and made intimate friends of the most undesirable people. 
There was about her conduct nothing of dignity and nothing of 
reticence, and there was much in it which, without being crimi- 
nal, was highly improper, especially having regard to the diffi- 
cult and delicate position in which she was placed, a young 
wife separated from her husband. Her sudden friendships 
ended not infrequently as suddenly as they began, and in one 
instance, that of Lady Douglas, culminated in a violent quarrel. 



302 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

This woman, in revenge, made a series of slanderous accu- 
sations against the Princess, in which falsehood was cunningly 
mixed with truth. She and her husband. Sir John Douglas, 
made a declaration concerning the Princess's conduct to the 
Duke of Sussex in December 1805, and the Duke informed 
the Prince of Wales. The Prince, "seeing that this matter 
was such as might affect the royal succession," submitted the 
declaration to his legal adviser, Lord Thurlow, who, after 
examining it carefully, told him frankly that he did not believe 
Lady Douglas's statement. Here the matter, if the Prince and 
his advisers had been wise, should have been allowed to drop. 
So far, the Prince could not be blamed. When such a matter 
was brought before him, he, from his position as heir to the 
throne, and legally bound to the Princess, was compelled to 
take some notice of it. Unfortunately, Thurlow, though dis- 
beheving Lady Douglas's statement, advised that evidence 
should be collected concerning the Princess's general behaviour, 
which was certainly peculiar. Aftgr many months of investi- 
gation, a case, or what the Prince considered a case, was made 
out against her. Even so, no official action was taken until 
Lord Grenville, Fox, Erskine, and other of the Prince's friends 
came into office in February 1806. It was they who, at the 
instance of the Prince, urged the matter on the King, who at 
last (May 29, 1806) reluctantly consented to the appointment 
of a Commission to inquire into the Princess's conduct. Lord 
Chancellor Erskine, and Lords Grenville, Spencer, and Ellen- 
borough conducted this inquiry, which was generally known as 
"the dehcate investigation." Into its details it is not necessary 
to enter here; suffice it to say that when the Commissioners 
reported (July 14, 1806), they completely acquitted the Princess 
of the graver charges against her of criminality, but they added 
a censure on her general conduct, declaring it to be "such as 
must, especially considering her exalted rank and station, 
necessarily give rise to very unfavourable interpretations." 
The King reserved his decision on this report, and meanwhile 
dechned to receive the Princess either in public or in private. 
The unhappy woman was driven almost beside herself at this 
attitude of the King, whom she had believed to be her best 
friend in England. She had not been allowed to defend herself 
at "the delicate investigation," but she determined that she 




THE PRINCESS AUGUSTA 

Daughter of George III. 

{After the Painting by 'S;\x William Beechey, R.A.) 



"THE DELICATE INVESTIGATION" 303 

would not be condemned unheard. The popular sympathy 
with her cause found her powerful friends in the ex-Lord 
Chancellor Eldon, and Mr. Perceval, soon to be Prime Minister. 
Guided by these advisers, she drew up an eloquent appeal to 
the King. Piteous letters also reached him from her father and 
mother in Brunswick, beseeching him to do justice to their 
daughter. Still the King, hampered by his Ministers, kept 
silence. It was not until January 28, 1807, that the Princess 
received a letter from him, saying that, as the graver charges 
against her were completely disproved, "he was advised that 
it was no longer necessary for him to decline to receive the 
Princess into his royal presence." At the same time he added 
that there were "other circumstances against her which he 
regarded with serious concern," and he hoped she would behave 
better in the future. The Princess could not afford to cavil at 
this not very satisfactory reply, and she wrote promptly, asking 
to be allowed to see the King at Windsor. The King replied 
that London would be more convenient, and he would let her 
know when he could see her. But at this juncture the Prince 
of Wales intervened, and said that he had put the matter into 
the hands of his lawyers, who would show cause why the 
Princess should not be received at Court. The King was 
therefore induced to say that he must decline to receive the 
Princess until' the Prince's case had been submitted to him. 
In other words he postponed the meeting sine die. 

The Princess then made another impassioned appeal, pro- 
testing against "this cruel, unjust, and unreasonable interposi- 
tion of the Prince." Again she demanded audience forthwith, 
but to this letter she received no answer. She then declared 
that she would not be condemned unheard; she would write 
an account of the whole business, both the accusations against 
her and her defence, and let the nation judge of the righteous- 
ness of her cause. This was prepared under Perceval's super- 
vision, under the name of "The Book." It was printed, and 
five thousand copies were made ready to be launched upon the 
town (a few advance copies were privately circulated among 
Ministers and members of the royal family). Still the Princess 
stayed her hand, unwilling to publish unless forced to do so; 
at last, in despair at the delay, she wrote to the King, saying 
that if she were not received by him before a particular Monday, 



304 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

her thunderbolt would be launched on the world. It was at 
this juncture that the "Ministry of all the Talents" suddenly 
collapsed, and a new Ministry was formed, which included all 
the Princess's friends — Lord Eldon, Mr. Canning, and Mr. 
Perceval. The King adroitly referred the Princess's appeals 
for justice to them. "The Book" was in consequence held 
back, and within two or three weeks a Minute of Council was 
passed which absolutely acquitted the Princess, not only of the 
charges of cirminality, but "all other particulars of conduct 
brought in accusation against her." In another Minute the 
Ministers recommended that she should have apartments allotted 
to her in one of the palaces, and be treated henceforth in a 
manner more worthy of her rank and dignity. 

Thus was the Princess triumphant all along the line. "The 
Book" was suppressed, and the printed copies burnt. Apart- 
ments were made ready for her in Kensington Palace, she was 
privately received by the King, and at the very next Drawing- 
room she was publicly received by the Queen, who must have 
made a wry face. The Prince of Wales was present at this 
Drawing-room, and we read, "About three o'clock the Princess 
of Wales came, elegantly attired. After complimenting her 
Majesty and the Princesses, she entered into conversation with 
the Prince, during which there was a profound silence in the 
room; all eyes were fixed on them. But nothing appeared 
beyond the forms of pohteness; it was therefore conjectured 
that future connection was impossible." 

This desirable consummation was not reached until 1807, 
after the matter had been violently agitating the public mind 
for more than a year. That year was probably the most 
troubled of Mrs. Fitzherbert's troubled life. Though she was 
absolutely blameless of any share in the persecution of the 
Princess of Wales, pubhc feeling ran high against her. The 
Seymour trial had forced her against her will into publicity, 
and had again directed attention to the fact that she was a 
Roman Catholic. Close on the heels of the Seymour trial 
came "the delicate investigation" which, conducted as it was 
with secrecy and closed doors, inflamed public passion and 
curiosity to the highest pitch. The wildest rumours flew about. 
The Prince, it was known, was minded to put away his wife, 
and the investigation was denounced as a vile plot against the 



"THE DELICATE INVESTIGATION" 305 

honour and life of a poor persecuted woman. Popular opinion 
was strongly hostile to the Prince of Wales and was ready to 
believe any story against him and against the "Papist woman" 
who was living with him as his wife. The pamphlet of Jeffries 
came out at this time, for he seized on the excited state of 
pubhc opinion to further calumniate Mrs. Fitzherbert. He 
declared that she was largely responsible for the persecution 
of the Princess of Wales, and asserted that she had attempted 
to bribe witnesses to give false evidence against her. Of course 
no one of any position credited this base falsehood for a moment, 
but the mob was not so reasonable. 

Lord Carlisle wrote to the Prince of Wales (February 2, 
1807): "Though I do not only believe, but know, how innocent 
Mrs. Fitzherbert is of all that has been imputed to her, yet I 
solemnly declare I consider her situation is becoming most 
perilous; measuring, as I fancy I do, the feelings and suspicions 
of many of the lower classes of the people. I hardly have a 
doubt that with half the mischievous ability of a Lord George 
Gordon, Mrs. Fitzherbert might at any hour be liable to insult 
not only in the streets but also in her own house." ^ 

Mrs. Fitzherbert was much frightened; not so much on her 
own account as on account of others. She recalled the excesses 
of the Gordon riots, and fearful lest history might repeat itself 
and her house be pillaged and her papers seized, in a moment 
of panic she tore up the Brief she had received from Rome on 
the subject of her returning to the Prince, and she mutilated 
her marriage certificate, her dearest possession, by cutting off 
the signatures of the witnesses, lest they should be impHcated. 

There is no doubt that, had the Princess of Wales shown 
the least encouragement to these rumours, the position of Mrs. 
Fitzherbert would have been one of danger from mob violence. 
To the Princess's honour she gave them no credence; she im- 
puted no blame to Mrs. Fitzherbert, and showed her no ill-will. 
On the contrary, she spoke of her with uniform kindness, and 
the tumult gradually died away. 

The royal family also stood by her throughout the unpopu- 
larity brought upon her, first by the Seymour case, and then 
by "the dehcate investigation." They knew that she was 

1 Carlisle MSS. Historical MSS., Commission. 



3o6 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

blameless in regard to the first of these causes celebres, and had 
nothing whatever to do with the second. Mrs. Fitzherbert 
continued on friendly terms with the King and Queen, and 
frequently had informal communications from them. The fol- 
lowing letter of the Duke of Kent, written when the turmoil 
about "the dehcate investigation" was at its height, shows the 
Hght in which she was regarded by the royal brothers : — 

H.R.H. the Duke of Kent to Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

"8 o'clock, 
"Tuesday ms, January 17, 1807. 

"Dearest Mrs. Fitzherbert, — Allow me to offer my 
kindest thanks for your most friendly note. I shall not fail to 
call this morning about eleven upon you in the first place, to 
take my chance of finding you at home, and if I fail, then will 
repeat my visit later in the day. 

"I was at the Queen's House from four o'clock till eleven 
yesterday. The King was excessively lame from rheumatism, 
or rheumatic gout, but in other respects perfectly well, except 
having rather a bilious eye. I shall see him before I ride over 
to Tilney Street, so that you may give the dear Prince the latest 
and most correct information. Permit me to express the hope 
that everything relating to our beautiful little fairy [Miss Sey- 
mour] is going on as we wish, and so as to relieve your mind 
from all future uneasiness as to her. 

"I remain with the highest regard and esteem, my dearest 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, ever most devotedly and truly yours, 

" Edward." 

Throughout the anxieties and sorrows to which Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert was exposed during these years, and the years which 
were to follow, she found comfort and consolation in the society 
of her ward, Mary Seymour. Mrs. Fitzherbert was devoted to 
this child of her adoption, who returned her love fourfold. She 
was of a singularly winning and affectionate disposition, with 
a brightness and charm which attracted every one to her, and 
made sunshine wherever she was. It may be truly said that 
all the happiness Mrs. Fitzherbert knew in the later years of 
her life came to her through her adopted daughter. The lone- 
liness and reproach of a childless woman was hers, and she 



"THE DELICATE INVESTIGATION" 307 

grieved under it, though perhaps for her own happiness and 
tranquilHty it was as well that she had no children. At first it 
seemed, too, that this child forged another hnk between the 
Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert; their affection for her certainly 
brought them both many hours of quiet domestic happiness, 
such as, in his better moments, the Prince loved. We get a 
ghmpse of their home hfe in Lord Albemarle's reminiscences, 
which with advantage may be quoted here. Little George 
Keppel (afterwards sixth Earl of Albemarle), was staying with 
his grandmother, the Dowager Lady de Clifford (governess of 
the Princess Charlotte), in South Audley Street, within a stone's 
throw of Mrs. Fitzherbert's house in Tilney Street, whither he 
often went to play with Mary Seymour. He writes: — 

"My visits to No. 6 Tilney Street were less intended for the 
mistress of the mansion than for a little lady of my own age, 
who even then gave promise of those personal and mental 
attractions for which she became so distinguished in after life. 
This was Miss Mary Georgiana, or, as she was called by her 
friends, 'Minney' Seymour. ... By my Httle hostess, I had 
the honour to be presented to the Prince of Wales, afterwards 
George IV. His appearance and manners were both of a 
nature to produce a lively impression on the mind of a child — 
a merry, good-humoured man, tall, though somewhat portly in 
stature, in the prime of Hfe, with laughing eyes, pouting lips, 
and nose which, very shghtly turned up, gave a peculiar poign- 
ancy to the expression of his face. He wore a well-powdered 
wig, adorned with a profusion of curls, which in my innocence 
I beheved to be his own hair, as I did a very large pigtail ap- 
pended thereto. His clothes fitted him like a glove; his coat 
was single-breasted and buttoned up to the chin. His nether 
garments were leather pantaloons and Hessian boots. Round 
his throat was a huge white neckcloth of many folds, out of 
which his chin seemed to be always struggling to emerge. 

"No sooner was his Royal Highness seated in his arm 
chair, than my young companion would jump up on one of 
his knees, to which she seemed to claim a prescriptive right. 
Straightway would arise an animated talk between ' Prinny and 
Minney,' as they respectively called each other. As my father 
was in high favour with the Prince at this time, I was occasion- 
ally admitted to the spare knee, and to a share in the conver- 



3o8 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

sation, if conversation it could be called in which all were talkers 
and none listeners." ^ 

Another playfellow of Httle Keppel's and Mary Seymour's 
was the Princess Charlotte, who at one time occasionally went 
to Tilney Street; but after these visits ceased, the children 
continued to meet at the Dowager Lady de CHfford's, Another 
was Grantley Berkeley, then a boy of about Miss Seymour's 
age, who often saw her both at London and Brighton. He 
writes : 

"There was also a young lady, very often at the Pavihon, 
then a child of much my own age. Miss Seymour, who used to 
play with me, and who considerably won my childish love." 
He states that he was "rather a favourite" with Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert, and his reminiscences concerning her at this time are 
interesting: "Among our lady visitors (at Berkeley House) was 
Mrs. Fitzherbert. . . . She had a pecuhar way of standing 
before the fire that impressed itself strongly on my mind. All 
the stories circulated about her, and most of all, the caricatures 
in which she was introduced that were constantly exhibited in 
the print-shops, attracted me as much towards her as her beauty. 
I remember well her delicately fair yet commanding features, 
the gentle demeanour, that exquisite complexion she main- 
tained, almost unimpaired by time, not only long after the 
departure of youth, iDut up to the arrival of old age, and her 
manner, unaffected by years, was equally well preserved." ^ 

Yet another of Mary Seymour's youthful adorers was George 
Fitzclarence, eldest son of the Duke of Clarence and the beautiful 
Mrs. Jordan.^ This was a friendship which, begun almost in 
infancy, lasted through life. Lady Jerningham writes of one 
of the Prince's birthdays at Brighton: "The band were all 
morning playing about the town, before our window, the Prince 
and all his Royal guests walking about, and the two little 
Fitzclarences and Miss Seymour running." * The child was 
also a favourite with all the royal brothers. She was always 
"Minney" to them. Indeed she would have been spoiled had 

1 "Fifty Years of my Life," by George Thomas, Earl of Albemarle, vol. i. 
pp. 238-240. London, 1876. 

2 "Recollections," by the Hon. Grantley Berkeley. 

3 Afterwards first Earl of Munster. 

* "Jerningham Letters," August 14, 1806. 



"THE DELICATE INVESTIGATION" 309 

not the sweetness of her nature made such a thing impossible. 
At this time her birthday was celebrated at Brighton in a manner 
almost royal. We read (1806), "On the night following (Sat- 
urday), it being the natal day of the interesting httle protegee 
of Mrs. Fitzherbert, Miss Seymour, this young lady gave a ball 
and supper to a party of juvenile nobihty at the Pavilion." A 
little note of Mrs. Fitzherbert's may be quoted to show the 
affectionate terms on which she and the Prince and the Httle 
girl were at this time : — 

Mrs. Fitzherbert to Miss Seymour. 

"TiLNEY Street (1807). 
"Many thanks, my sweet child, for your letter. I am very 
glad your cough is better, and I hope when I return I shall 
have the happiness of finding you quite well. I will dehver 
your message to 'Prinny,'^ and 'Wiggy,' ^ when I see them, but 
I am just going out and am afraid if I don't send my letter now 
I may be late for the post. I shall certainly be with you on 
Thursday for dinner. I daresay you will be very glad to have 
your Httle friend Sophia Keppel,^ at Brighton. Pray send and 
ask her to dine with you on Christmas Day. Give mille amities 
de ma part a Mile. Amy, and beHeve me, dear Minney, yours 
very affect'^, ..jyj-_ Fitzherbert." ' 

In 1807 we find the Prince celebrating his birthday at 
Brighton with five of his brothers, the Dukes of York, Clarence, 
Kent, Cumberland, and Sussex, with the usual festivities, such 
as a review, ringing of bells, roasting of oxen, iUuminations. 
At the review we read, "Lady Haggerston,^ and Miss Seymour, 

1 The Prince of Wales. 

2The Hon. G. T. Keppel, aftenvards sixth Earl of Albemarle. 
. 3 Lady Sophia Keppel, daughter of the fourth Eari of Albemarie, who 
married (1819) Sir James Macdonald, Bart., and died 1824. 

■» For the above letter, written by Mrs. Fitzherbert to Miss Seymour (after- 
wards Mrs. Dawson Damcr), I am indebted to the surviving daughters of the 
late Mrs. Dawson Damer, Lady Blanche Haygarth and Lady Constance Leslie. 
I am also indebted to them for other letters quoted in this book, except when 
otherwise specified, for several of the illustrations duly noted elsewhere, and 
for much kind assistance, impossible to specify in detail. My indebtedness to 
these ladies is great. 

5 Mrs. Fitzherbert's sister. 



310 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

the Lord Chancellor, Lady Headfort, Mr. Sheridan, and Mrs. 
Smith ^ (sic) were in the Prince's landau. Mrs. Fitzherbert 
was detained at home by indisposition." It was almost a 
family party, and it will be seen that Mrs. Fitzherbert's relatives 
and friends were then in high favour. 

In 1808 the Prince also kept his birthday at Brighton, and 
celebrated it with his brothers by a grand review on the Brighton 
Downs. The Prince was in Hussar uniform as Colonel of the 
Tenth Light Dragoons: his sabre was of the richest description, 
and the sabretache and saddle-cloth were of scarlet, superbly 
embroidered, and nearly covered with gold. He rode his grey 
charger, one of the finest proportioned Arabians ever seen in 
this country. In the Prince's barouche were Mrs. Fitzherbert 
and Miss Seymour. The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, 
Lord and Lady Melbourne, Lord Erskine, and other famous 
personages were present. "Never," writes the chronicler, "was 
there such a splendid and brilhant display of company ever 
seen in this part of the world before." It was memorable in 
another way, for this was the last of the Prince's birthday 
celebrations in which Mrs. Fitzherbert took part. 

1 Mrs. Walter Smythe, Mrs. Fitzherbert's sister-in-law. 



J 



^^ -^ -^^' ,*-*' ''"^'^ ^'^^^ 



f/''^ ' y^ 




^^;j3^;^Q^X££^ 



/^^?-^ 



FACSIMILE OF A LETTER WRITTEN BY MRS. FITZHERBERT, 
SHOWING HER SIGNATURE 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE FINAL SEPARATION 

(1808-1811) 

Mrs. Fitzherbert's happiness was now clouded by the 
intimacy which had sprung up between the Prince of Wales 
and the Marchioness of Hertford.^ The fickle Prince was once 
more bent on supplanting her by another lady, and though for 
some time there was no open breach between them, their 
relations gradually became strained. The indirect cause of 
this unhappy state of affairs arose out of the Seymour case, of 
which it was aptly said, "It gained Mrs. Fitzherbert a child, 
but lost her a husband." When the issue of the trial hung in 
the balance, it will be remembered that Mrs. Fitzherbert had 
recourse to her friend Lady Hertford, and begged her to inter- 
cede with Lord Hertford (as head of the Seymour family) 
concerning the guardianship of Mary Seymour. The result 
was that the child was entrusted to Mrs. Fitzherbert's care, but 
unfortunately this appeal to Lady Hertford led to another 
development. The Prince of Wales was also concerned in 
this negotiation, and he saw Lady Hertford frequently on the 
subject. The impressionable Prince was much attracted to 
her: their intercourse gradually deepened into intimacy, and so 
in the Seymour case may be found the origin of an intrigue 
which ultimately gave Lady Hertford a complete ascendency 
over the Prince, and drove Mrs. Fitzherbert from the field. 

Lady Hertford was a woman of quite different calibre to 
Lady Jersey; she was correct in her conduct, proud, and re- 
served. The wife of an enormously wealthy Tory peer, who 
owned many pocket-boroughs, she was a great lady in politics 
as well as a leading personage in society. She was an ardent 
Protestant, and strongly opposed to Catholic Emancipation, on 

1 Isabella, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Charles Ingram, ninth Viscount 
Irvine, wife of second Marquess of Hertford. 

311 



312 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

this point being in direct opposition to Mrs. Fitzherbert. Lady 
Hertford was a v/oman of mature age, and she was neither very 
beautiful nor very clever. But she had a stately presence and 
superb figure, a dignified carriage and admirable manners. 
She had a passion for dress, and was said to be the best-dressed 
woman in London. Except on this last point one would have 
thought that she had little in common with the Prince of Wales. 
Yet it was perhaps the opposite qualities in her that attracted 
him. He did not find her confidence easy to win: she feared 
for her reputation, and at first she repelled his advances in a 
way that drove the Prince almost to despair. Creevey tells us 
that "when he (the Prince) was first in love with Lady Hertford, 
I have seen tears run down his cheeks at dinner, and he has 
been dumb for hours." ^ There is no doubt that Lady Hert- 
ford's coldness only attracted the Prince the more. He showed 
all his usual symptoms of being very much in love — tears, 
prayers, bloodletting, great excitability, letters of enormous 
length — just as when he was a young man. These symptoms 
must have been very trying for Mrs. Fitzherbert to witness. 
She knew them well, but for a time she ignored them, hoping 
that this love attack would pass in the same way as other 
petits amours of the Prince had passed. She had confidence 
also in Lady Hertford; she thought her to be her friend, but in 
time she saw that her confidence was misplaced. Lady Hert- 
ford was very vain and inordinately ambitious. To have the 
Prince at her feet undoubtedly flattered her vanity, but at first 
it was not easy to see how her ambition could be advanced by 
listening to his addresses, for the Prince had no power, and very 
little influence. Indeed, she does not seem to have softened 
until the Regency was in sight. Like many women, she loved 
the sense of power, and it pleased her to have people paying 
her homage, and craving her good offices. It is certain that 
Lady Hertford never cared for the Prince, but after their 
friendship became a recognised fact, for some years she ruled 
him absolutely. He would spend hours at Manchester House, 
the hours which he used to spend with Mrs. Fitzherbert at 
Tilney Street. Yet it may be doubted that the Prince's rela- 
tions with Lady Hertford were ever more than what is absurdly 

1 "The Creevey Papers," vol. i. p. 148. But Creevey vs^as given to exaggera- 
tion. 



THE FINAL SEPARATION 313 

called "platonic." She was willing to be his Egeria, but she 
always repudiated the idea that she was his mistress. The 
Princess of Wales, who followed all her husband's affaires with 
fierce curiosity, declared "that Lady H[ertford] was a woman of 
intact virtue — it is only a liaison of vanity on the part of my 
better half, but it will not last long — she is too formal for him." ^ 

It seems to have been merely an intellectual adultery; but 
Mrs. Fitzherbert found this more trying to bear than any of 
the Prince's amours. She saw her influence being slowly un- 
dermined, and the Prince's manner towards herself change 
from warm affection to coldness and indifference. Still she 
suffered and said nothing, until at last Lady Hertford, who was 
very jealous of her reputation, discovered that she was being 
talked about. She then made the Prince insist that Mrs. 
Fitzherbert should dine at Carlton House or at the Pavilion 
whenever she dined there, and should always appear at those 
entertainments where she and the Prince were present. Whether 
Lady Hertford did this from a desire to humiliate her rival, or 
only from a wish to protect her reputation in the eyes of the 
world, the result was equally mortifying to the unhappy Mrs. 
Fitzherbert. This state of affairs went on for two years, and 
Mrs. Fitzherbert was forced into being a witness of, and appar- 
ently a consenting party to, this intimacy between Lady Hert- 
ford and the Prince of Wales — and this despite her tears, 
entreaties, and expostulations. So wounding was this to her 
self-respect that she would have refused to be present had not 
Lady Hertford, who, with her lord, was a guardian of Miss 
Seymour, appointed by the House of Lords, always held over 
her the threat that unless she did what she wished she would 
take away the child. The circumstances, therefore, were of 
pecuHar cruelty. Lord Stourton gives the following account 
of the situation : — 

"Lady Hertford, anxious for the preservation of her own 
reputation, which she was not willing to compromise with the 
public, even when she ruled the Prince with the most absolute 
sway, exposed Mrs. Fitzherbert at this time to very severe 
trials, which at last almost, as she said, ruined her health and 
destroyed her nerves. Attentions were required from her 

1 Lady Charlotte Bury's "Diary illustrative of the Times of George IV." 



314 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

towards Lady Hertford herself, even when most aware of her 
superior influence over the Prince, and these attentions were 
extorted by the menace of taking away her child. To diminish 
her apparent influence in public as well as private was now the 
object. When at Brighton, the Prince, who had passed part 
of his mornings with Mrs. Fitzherbert on friendly terms at her 
own house, did not even notice her in the slightest manner at 
the Pavilion on the same evenings, and she afterwards under- 
stood that such attentions would have been reported to her 
rival. She was frequently on the point of that separation which 
afterwards took place, but was prevented by the influence of 
the royal family from carrying her resolution into effect." ^ 

Bitterly now must Mrs. Fitzherbert have regretted her im- 
prudence in returning to the Prince after his marriage to the 
Princess of Wales. For her present situation she had largely 
herself to blame. She now besought the Prince to let her go, 
but he would not ; he wished to keep her, so to speak, in reserve. 
His vanity would not suffer him to imagine that Mrs. Fitzherbert 
could ever wish to leave him voluntarily. Now, as always, he 
was ready to promise her anything, but his promises in private 
were falsified by his performances in public. At this juncture 
Mrs. Fitzherbert addressed to him the following pathetic 
appeal : — 

Mrs. Fitzherbert to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. 

"The constant state of anxiety I am perpetually kept in 
with respect to your proceedings, and the little satisfaction I 
experience when occasionally you make partial communications 
to me, have determined me to address you by letter. 

"You must be well aware of the misery we have both 
suffered for the last three or four years on a subject most painful 
to me, and to all those who are attached and interested about 
you. It has quite destroyed the entire comfort and happiness 
of both our hves; it has so completely destroyed mine, that 
neither my health nor my spirits can bear it any longer. What 
am I to think of the inconsistency of your conduct, when, 
scarcely three weeks ago, you voluntarily declared to me that 
this sad affair was quite at an end, and in less than a week 

"^Langdale's "Memoirs." 






■'^'^.tc^^/^-^/^- ore' ^^ ^ •>- 



FACSIMILE OF A LETTER WRITTEN BY MRS 

BEFORE THl 



^ ^/ •^^.. --^ ^ ..^.^..p.-^- 



[ERBERT TO THE PRINCE OF WALES SHORTLY 
\L SEPARATION 



THE FINAL SEPARATION 315 

afterwards the whole business was begun all over again ? The 
purport of my writing to you is to implore you to come to a 
resolution upon this business. You must decide, and that 
decision must be done immediately, that I may know what line 
to pursue. I beg your answer may be a written one, to avoid 
all unpleasant conversations upon a subject so heart-rending 
to one whose whole life has been dedicated to you, and whose 
affection for you none can surpass." ^ 

This letter had no effect. The Prince in private, no doubt, 
promised amendment, but he still insisted upon Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert's attending the Pavilion, apparently as chaperone to Lady 
Hertford; and in public, beyond the most formal greeting, he 
did not take the shghtest notice of her presence. Thus she, 
who had formerly been the reigning lady, hostess in all but 
name, now found her place usurped by Lady Hertford, and 
herself expected to assist in the triumph of her rival. Her 
pride revolted at such a humiliation, and at last she determined 
to set the Prince at defiance. She sent him an ultimatum. 
She would go no more to the Pavilion, she said; she would not 
part with the child, and she vowed that if the Prince thus robbed 
her of all she loved, or allowed her to be so robbed, she would 
be driven into retaliation. The Prince, of course, did not dare 
(it may be doubted if he ever wished) to put Lady Hertford's 
threat into execution, and take Miss Seymour from her. But 
he resented in the strongest manner Mrs. Fitzherbert's diso- 
bedience to his commands in absenting herself from the Pavilion. 
The difference between the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert was 
much regretted by the royal family, who still counselled her not 
to break completely with the Prince. The Duke of York and 
the Duke of Clarence tried their best to bring about a reconcilia- 
tion, of course without effect, and only brought the Prince's 
wrath down upon their heads. The Duke of Kent was wiser, 
and mindful of the dangers of ipterfering in quarrels between 
husband and wife, dechned even to discuss the matter with 
Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

1 This letter, unsigned, was found among Mrs. Fitzherbert's papers after her 
death. It is evidently a copy of one sent to the Prince, and probably was not 
burnt with the others, because it was mislaid. It is in Mrs. Fitzherbert's hand- 
writing. I give a facsimile of the original. The date must have been about 
the end of the year 1809. 



3i6 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

H.R.H. the Duke oj Kent to Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

"Castle Hill Lodge, 
"Saturday, December 30, 1809. 

"My dearest Mrs. Fitzherbert, — I have this moment 
received your very kind letter, which, agreeable to your request, 
shall be shown to the Prince the very first time I see him, which 
I expect will be either Monday or Wednesday. In the mean- 
while, however, I must beg to assure you that, in the conver- 
sation alluded to between my brother and me, I never did 
understand that you had made use of my name as being ac- 
quainted with, or sanctioning, your intention of absenting 
yourself from the Pavilion. Indeed, if any such suggestion 
had been dropped, 1 should have conceived it as arising in 
error, as there could not be the slightest foundation for it, it 
having singularly so happened that I have not had the pleasure 
of seeing you since August, and that the only time you did me 
the favour to write, was solely upon my own concerns, uncon- 
nected with any other circumstance whatsoever. However, 
what has passed on this occasion renders it absolutely necessary 
for me to implore you, whenever I have the happiness of seeing 
you (which I must say is a very great gratification to me at all 
times, from the kind and affectionate interest you have ever 
shewn me), that we never should touch upon that most delicate 
subject — the state of things between the Prince and yourself. 
Then I shall always be able, as I am now, conscientiously to 
say that you have never sought to intermeddle me in it, which 
I well know will always be the furtliesl thing from your thoughts. 
In venturing to say this, I do it with the more confidence as I 
am sure you will never suspect my silence on that one subject 
to proceed from a want of interest about it, when I owe so much 
to both parties for all the kindness I have ever experienced 
from them. . . . 

**To yourself I scarcely need add that I shall ever remain 
bound by every tie of friendship and attachment, and that I 
hope you will believe the sincerity of my professions when I 
repeat the sentiments of warm regard and high esteem, with 
which I ever am, my dearest Mrs. Fitzherbert, yours most 
faithfully and devotedly, "Edward " 



THE FINAL SEPARATION 317 

Mrs. Fitzherbert's determination to go no more to the 
Pavilion widened the breach between her and the Prince. 
They were now virtually separated, and he fell more and more 
under the dominion of Lady Hertford, Presently it was whis- 
pered everywhere that Mrs. Fitzherbert's influence over him 
was gone. This was what the Prince wished, and indeed had 
been the true reason of his treating her distantly in pubhc. 
There was one thing the Prince dearly loved, and that was 
popularity. For the last few years he had been steadily growing 
more and more unpopular. This was due wholly to his own 
misconduct, and more particularly to his treatment of the 
Princess of Wales, but his self-esteem would not admit that he 
could possibly be to blame, and it pleased him to think that it 
was on account of Mrs. Fitzherbert and her rehgion. Lady 
Hertford had artfully insinuated that his close connection with 
a Roman Cathohc, especially at a time when Catholic Emanci- 
pation was the burning political question, must surely do him 
harm with the country, and that it was most desirable for public 
reasons that Mrs. Fitzherbert should be relegated to the back- 
ground. This advice the Prince listened to eagerly, for it 
coincided with his inchnation. Hence arose the many slights 
he put upon the unfortunate Mrs. Fitzherbert in public, all for 
the purpose of showing that he was no longer under the influence 
of a Roman Catholic. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert's quarrel with the Prince coincided with 
a time of great public excitement and a dangerous crisis in the 
royal family. She was deprived, too, of the advice of her best 
friend, the Duke of York, whose time was wholly occupied just 
then by his own affairs. The Duke's conduct as commander- 
in-chief was brought before Parhament in connection with the 
notorious Mrs. Clarke. This woman was accused of trafficking 
in promotions, and she said, untruly, that she had done so with 
the knowledge and connivance of the Duke. The pubhc 
scandal raised in connection with this Parhamentary investiga- 
tion was very great. It is not necessary to enter into details; 
suffice it to say, that the Duke was acquitted of the graver 
charges of corruption, but he felt bound to resign for a time 
his appointment as commander-in-chief. Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
sympathies were all with the Duke,, and she wrote to him, 
receiving the following reply: — 



3i8 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

H.R.H. the Duke of York to Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

"Stable Yard, 
"Tuesday evening, Atigusi 8. 

"A thousand thanks, my dear Friend, for your kind note. 

Be assured that I am truly sensible of your friendly anxiety 

about me. I am, thank God, tolerably well in health, and 

bear up, as much as I can, under present circumstances. As 

soon as I am able to free myself, you may depend upon your 

being one of the first persons upon whom I shall call. Yours 

most affectionately, utt' „ 

■" Frederick." 

The King's reason had long trembled in the balance; his 
domestic griefs, added to his public anxieties, hastened the 
crisis. The changes in the Government, and the proceedings 
against his favourite son, the Duke of York, had driven him 
nearly insane; but the crowning blow was the death of his 
beloved daughter, the lovely Princess Amelia, who died Novem- 
ber 2, 1810. The old King's mind gave way utterly under this 
last sorrow. Doctor John Willis was again called in, this time 
without result. Despite all efforts at concealment, it soon 
became known that the King was hopelessly insane. The 
Queen and Perceval, the Prime Minister, endeavoured to follow 
the precedents of 1789 — to grasp all the power they could, and 
fetter the Prince of Wales as much as possible. But this time 
the Prince was too strong for the Queen. For one thing, the 
King was twenty years older, and there was no ray of hope that 
he would recover; for another, Perceval was not Pitt. It is 
true that temporary restrictions on the Regency were carried 
by narrow majorities in Parliament, but every one knew they 
were not worth the paper they were written on, and when the 
Prince agreed to accept the Regency, he did so under protest, 
so far as the restrictions were concerned. The next question 
was, who would form the new Government, for it was supposed 
on both sides of the House that the Prince would begin his 
Regency by dismissing Perceval and the Tories, and call in 
Lords Grey and Grenville, and his friends the Whigs. But the 
Prince, when pressed for a definite declaration, asked for time 
to consider. He had made his peace with the Queen, who told 
him that a change of Government at this juncture would cer- 



THE FINAL SEPARATION 319 

tainly kill the King. This made the Prince shed tears; and 
with a great show of devotion to the King, he declared he was 
ready to sacrifice his personal preferences to the welfare of the 
State. The truth was, the Prince in his heart did not want the 
Whigs in office. He disliked Lords Grey and Grenville quite 
as much as he disliked Perceval, and he had already thrown 
over Catholic Emancipation, to which the Whigs were pledged. 
Still he affected to hesitate. 

It was at this juncture that he sent for Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
who was then at Brighton. She must have been considerably 
surprised to receive the royal summons. Since she had ab- 
sented herself from the Pavilion contrary to the Prince's com- 
mand, she had rarely seen him. Public affairs claimed his 
attention, and his leisure was now spent wholly with Lady 
Hertford. The breach between him and Mrs. Fitzherbert had 
widened into a virtual separation; in political affairs, she was 
not consulted; in the intrigues which gathered around the 
King's illness, and the Prince's claim to the Regency, she had 
this time taken no part. Lady Hertford was supreme. When, 
therefore, the Prince, on the eve of assuming the Regency, 
expressly sent for her, she must have thought he wished to see 
her on some matter personal to herself. Perhaps he was at 
last going to fulfil his promises, and, now that he had the power, 
make her tardy compensation for the wrongs she had suffered. 
Such a thought may well have passed through her mind as she 
drove up to London. But when she arrived at Carlton House, 
and was ushered into the presence of the Regent-elect, she found 
that it was on quite a different matter that he wished to see her. 
Lord Stourton gives the following account (which he had from 
Mrs. Fitzherbert) of this interview : — 

"He [the Prince] told her, that he had sent for her to ask 
her opinion, and that he demanded it of her, with regard to the 
party to which he was about, as Regent, to confide the admin- 
istration of the country. At his commands, she urged, in the 
most forcible manner she was able, his adherence to his former 
political friends. Knowing all his engagements to that party, 
she used every argument and every entreaty to induce him not 
to sever himself from them. 'Only retain them, sir, six weeks 
in power. If you please, you may find some pretext to dismiss 
them at the end of that time; but do not break with them 



320 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

without some pretext or other.' Such was her request to him. 
He answered, 'It was impossible, as he had promised;' but at 
the same time she observed he seemed much overpowered by 
the effort it cost him. Finding that resistance to a determina- 
tion so fixed was unavaihng, she asked to be allowed to return 
to Brighton, which she did; but previously to leaving him, she 
said, that as he had done her the honour of imposing on her 
his commands of freely declaring her sentiments upon this 
occasion, she hoped he would permit her, before she left him, 
to offer one suggestion, which she trusted he would not take 
amiss. 

"She then urged upon him, as strongly as she was able, the 
disadvantages which must accrue to his future happiness from 
treating his daughter, the Princess Charlotte, with so little 
kindness. 'You now, sir,' she said, 'may mould her at your 
pleasure, but soon it will not be so; and she may become, from 
mismanagement, a thorn in your side for life.' 'That is your 
opinion, madam,' was his only reply." ^ 

It is not easy to see what were the Prince's motives in 
sending for Mrs. Fitzherbert at this time. He did not want 
her advice on the political situation, for his mind was made up 
before she came, and he did not follow the advice she offered. 
Perhaps he wished to convey to her by his manner, for he lacked 
the courage to tell her frankly, that now, when he was about 
to be vested with authority and power, their old confidential 
relations must cease, and any intercourse between them hence- 
forth be distant and formal. Perhaps it was only vanity, for 
he was one of the vainest of men ; he wished her to see him in his 
new role as Regent-elect, and impress her accordingly. Per- 
haps (for we will give him the benefit of the doubt) his love for 
her may have flickered up again: he wished to see her, and the 
pretext of consulting her on political matters was merely an 
excuse to save his dignity. She had been his faithful com- 
panion through storm and stress for many years, and even he, 
the most ungrateful of men, could hardly cast her aside in his 
hour of prosperity without a word. It is possible that had she 
humbled herself before him, had she wept, or reproached him, 
he might have shed on her some rays of his favour; but she 

^Langdale's "Memoirs:" "Lord Stourton's Narrative," pp. 143, 144. 



THE FINAL SEPARATION 321 

was apparently too proud, and felt herself too deeply wronged, 
to even allude to their personal relations during the interview. 
Pride stood in the way. They parted without a word on the 
subject which was probably nearest their hearts, and when 
the doors of Carlton House closed behind Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
the opportunity of reconciliation was gone for ever. 

A few days later it was announced that the Prince had de- 
cided to keep on Mr. Perceval and the Tories, and this decision, 
it was well known, was due in the main to the influence of 
Lady Hertford and the intrigues of Manchester House. 

On February 5, 181 1, the Prince of Wales took the oaths 
required of him as Regent, and formally entered on his nine- 
teen years of rule — nine as Regent and ten as King. The 
beginning of his Regency may be regarded as coincident with 
the ending of his connection with Mrs. Fitzherbert; for though 
he had occasional communications with her until a later date, 
yet with his assumption of the Regency their married life finally 
closed. There were many reasons for this, some private and 
some political. The chief private reason was, of course, the 
influence of Lady Hertford; the political one was the question 
of Roman Catholic Emancipation. 

This question had been shelved by Pitt, who, though con- 
vinced of its justice, promised George HI. never to bring it 
forward during his lifetime; it was a subject on which the 
King felt so deeply that any discussion of it was likely to upset 
his sanity. He threatened to abdicate rather than give his 
assent to such a measure, which he regarded as a breach of 
his coronation oath. So great was the respect entertained by 
many of the leading Roman Catholic laity for the King, that 
they fell in with Pitt's views, and would never have urged the 
question so long as it endangered the health of the King. But 
now that the King was hopelessly insane, and his son had 
become Regent, the situation changed, and Emancipation was 
again forced into the forefront of practical pohtics. In his 
youth the Prince of Wales had allowed it to be understood that 
he favoured the Roman Catholic claims; and though he did not 
positively declare himself, he wrote, spoke, and acted as though 
he approved of Emancipation. His friendship with Fox, who 
was the great champion of toleration, his close connection with 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, and his intimacy with many Roman Catholics, 



322 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

helped to foster the behef. It may be doubted if the Prince 
had ever any settled convictions on the subject, and his apparent 
approval of this reform may have been dictated chiefly by a 
desire to annoy and oppose his father. Mrs. Fitzherbert never 
discussed the subject in public, and if it came up in the course 
of conversation she always put it aside. Of course there was 
no doubt that her sympathies were with those of her faith, 
though she refrained from taking any active part, and certainly 
did not influence the Prince. So the question slept in the 
Prince's mind until he came under the influence of Lady Hert- 
ford. Lady Hertford seems to have persuaded him that he 
would gain popularity by the No-Popery cry, and one of his 
first acts, after assuming the Regency, was to make it generally 
known that he was strongly opposed to the Catholic claims. 
The surest way in which he could emphasise this was by letting 
the world see his close intimacy with the ultra-Protestant Hert- 
fords, who were leaders of the anti- Emancipation movement. 
It was necessary also that he should show publicly that he was 
no longer under the influence of the Roman Catholic Mrs. 
Fitzherbert. 

The Regent sought an occasion of pubhcly demonstrating 
this, and the opportunity soon came. Always a lover of dis- 
play, he determined to inaugurate his Regency by a splendid 
fete at Carlton House. The fete was ostensibly given in honour 
of the exiled royal family of France, though the real reason 
was to display the Regent's magnificence, and to make a parade 
of his generosity. The date was fixed for June 19, 181 1. For 
weeks before nothing was talked of in the beau monde but the 
coming fete ; it was rumoured that no court entertainment so 
splendid had ever been given within living memory, and there 
was a great rush for invitations. It was at first said that no 
one was to be asked under the rank of a peer's son or daughter, 
but that Hmitation gave offence, and was cancelled. In all 
some two thousand invitations were sent out. Mrs. Fitzherbert 
received an invitation. As this was the first time she was to 
make a pubhc appearance at the Regent's house since his 
assumption of the Regency, she was naturally anxious to know 
how she was to be received. She had no intention of submitting 
again to the shghts which had caused her to absent herself 
from the PaviHon. She made inquiries in a well-informed 




(i) IVORY FAN GIVEN BY THE PRINCE OF WALES 
TO MRS. FITZHERBERT 



^2) SATCHEL EMBROIDERED BY MRS. FITZHERBERT 
AT THE AGE OF SEVENTY-FIVE 

{By permission of Mr. John Harkis) 



THE FINAL SEPARATION 323 

quarter, and discovered that there was to be a royal supper- 
table, accommodating a large number of distinguished guests, 
including the French royal family, those members of the English 
royal family who were present, and persons especially honoured 
by the Regent, including of course Lord and Lady Hertford 
and their son. Lord Yarmouth. To this table Mrs. Fitzherbert 
was not bidden, and she learned that if she went to Carlton 
House, she would be left to fight for her supper at a buffet with 
the general company. The omission was the more marked, 
because, "on all former occasions, to avoid etiquette, in circum- 
stances of such dehcacy as regarded her own position with 
reference to the Prince, it had been customary to sit at table 
regardless of rank." This had always secured her a seat at 
the Prince's table, and she was very tenacious (perhaps unduly 
so) of this small concession to her pecuhar position. The 
Regent had always promised that when he had the power he 
would do everything to put her right with the world; but now, 
so far from doing this, he was even taking away the shght 
privileges hitherto conceded to her. This change of place she 
had no difficulty in tracing to Lady Hertford, and she regarded 
it as "a systematic intention to degrade her before the public." 
Mrs. Fitzherbert would not, however, beheve that this humil- 
iation was to be offered to her unless she heard it from the 
Regent's own lips. With characteristic courage she went to 
Carlton House, and demanded of the Regent where she was to 
sit. He said, "You know, madam, you have no place." " None, 
sir," she repHed, "but such as you choose to give me." Deeply 
mortified, she withdrew. She determined that she would not 
go to the jete, and she told those of the royal family who were 
her friends of her determination. The Duke of York and 
other of the royal brothers endeavoured to get the Regent to 
alter his arrangement of the table in Mrs. Fitzherbert's favour, 
but they found him inflexible. He held that the exceptional 
courtesy the Prince of Wales had extended to her in such 
matters could not be continued to her by the Regent at his 
court. He could no longer waive the rules of precedence in 
her favour, nor could he set the etiquette of the court at defiance. 
He had no wish to exclude her from the fete, but he wished her 
in future to understand her place. Mrs. Fitzherbert, however, 
decHned to fall in with his arrangements; she held that she 



324 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

occupied a position sui generis, and was therefore entitled to 
exceptional treatment, so she stayed away. Under these altered 
circumstances she declined to attend his court. 

The "other wife," the Princess of Wales, was not invited at 
all. She took the neglect very good-humouredly, declaring 
that she "was Hke an Archbishop's wife, who does not partake 
of her husband's honours;" she allowed the ladies of her suite 
to go, and to show that she bore no mahce gave them new 
dresses for the occasion. The Princess Charlotte was also 
excluded on the ground of her youth, which, as she was now 
fifteen, she thought "very hard." Magnificent and wonderful 
was the Carlton House fete, vying in splendour with a corona- 
nation banquet, or Belshazzar's feast. London talked of noth- 
ing else for weeks afterwards — such dresses, such jewels, such 
decorations, such a dazzhng display of female beauty, such 
princely hospitahty had never been seen before. The Regent 
was in his element presiding over all this splendour, and his 
exquisite courtesy to the exiled royal family of France was the 
theme of universal admiration. But the distinguished absentees 
were noticed as well as the distinguished guests, and the mot 
ran round the brilHant assembly that the "two wives were sitting 
at home." 

The Carlton House fete brought matters to a crisis between 
the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert. She was cruelly wounded 
by his broken promises and unchivalrous treatment, he was 
exasperated by her refusal to obey his commands. The royal 
family had long opposed her desire for separation, but now, 
"aware of the pecuhar circumstances of her case, and the 
distressing nature of her general situation, they no longer 
hesitated to agree with her, that no advantage was to be gained 
by further postponement of her own anxious desire to close her 
connection with the Prince, and to retire once more into private 
life." The last time that Mrs. Fitzherbert met the Regent, be- 
fore their final separation, was the day after the Carkon House 
fete, at an assembly at Devonshire House. "The Duchess 
of Devonshire, taking her by her arm, said to her, 'You must 
come and see the Duke in his own room, as he is suffering 
from a fit of the gout, but he will be glad to see an old friend.' 
In passing through the rooms she saw the Prince and Lady 
Hertford in a tete-a-tete conversation, and nearly fainted under 



THE FINAL SEPARATION 325 

all the impressions which then rushed upon her mind; but, 
taking a glass of water, she recovered and passed on." ^ 

Soon after this incident a formal separation was agreed 
upon; the Duke of York acting as intermediary between the 
parties. In this matter Mrs. Fitzherbert took the initiative; 
it was she who wished for a final separation, not the Regent. 
It has been said that he wished for it also, and made her position 
intolerable so as to throw the onus upon her. There seems no 
proof of this. The Regent certainly wished, on personal as 
well as pohtical grounds, to put Mrs. Fitzherbert on one side, 
until such time as it should suit his royal will and pleasure to 
bring her forward again. If she was reasonable he had no 
desire to break with her wholly. But Mrs. Fitzherbert would 
not fall in with the Regent's plan, so wounding to her self- 
respect and her honour. She, who regarded herself as his 
true wife, refused to play the role of complaisant mistress, and 
dance attendance on the houri of the hour, to be ignored one 
day and smiled upon the next, according to the royal pleasure 
of her Sultan. For the last few years her hfe had been one of 
misery. So long as the Prince had stood by her, she had 
bravely borne all the anxieties, misrepresentations, abuse, and 
popular execration which arose from her connection with him; 
but when he turned upon her and ill-treated her, her fortitude 
gave way, and her health became broken by the treatment she 
received. In truth she was tired. She could not go on any 
longer; even had her spirit been willing, her bodily strength 
would have failed her. She was now fifty-five years of age, 
and after all she had gone through, she might reasonably look 
forward to a few years of peace and quietness before she died. 
She was no longer quite alone, for her adopted daughter was 
with her. In the negotiation for the separation, Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert made only one stipulation, namely, that she should retain 
the guardianship of Miss Seymour. The Regent made no 
objection; he knew that Miss Seymour was in the best possible 
hands, and he had never seriously thought of taking her away 
from Mrs. Fitzherbert. The money question had been solved 
some three or four years previously, when the Prince's attach- 
ment to Lady Hertford first became manifest. The will which 

1 Langdale's "Memoirs." 



326 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

the Prince had made in Mrs. Fitzherbert's favour in 1786, as 
well as the pension of ;^30oo a year guaranteed her in 1784, had 
been commuted for an annuity of ;^6ooo a year, guaranteed by 
a mortgage on the Pavihon at Brighton.^ In this matter Mr. 
Errington again acted on behalf of his niece, but it would seem 
she owed her pension to the good will of the Queen and the 
Duke of York. Lord Stourton says: — 

"To the Duke of York and the Queen Mrs. Fitzherbert 
was indebted for ;^6ooo a year in a mortgage deed, which they 
procured for her on the Palace at Brighton: being aware, as 
she said, that till that period she had no legal title to a single 
shilling should she survive the Prince. Indeed, at one period 
she had debts on her own .jointures, incurred principally on 
account of the Prince. . . ." ^ 

The Regent cleared off these debts also without demur. 
Indeed, as the Duke of York afterwards testified, he seemed 
glad to do whatever was asked, so far as money went. The 
houses in Tilney Street and at Brighton were Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
own property; she had besides her separate jointure. The 
arrangements for the separation were soon completed, and 
from that time, to quote Lord Stourton, Mrs. Fitzherbert 
"never opened the door of her house" to the Regent. There 
was no public separation, and very few people knew the facts. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert was not given to talking about her affairs, and 
the Regent naturally did not care to say much about it. Con- 
science was never quite dead in him, though its voice was 
dulled by flattery and self-indulgence. Even when their rela- 
tions were most strained he had silently rendered her the 
homage which vice, often unwillingly, pays to virtue. Though 
passion was long dead, he still retained for her feehngs of 
respect. He knew her to be a good woman, and in his heart 
of hearts he regarded her as his wife. Another person thought 
her his wife also — no other than the poor persecuted Princess 

1 This document, dated March i6, 1808, is entitled, "Device for securing 
the payment of an annuity of £6000 a year during the Prince's lifetime: His 
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and Henry Errington, Esq., in trust for 
Mrs. Fitzherbert." It was placed by Mrs. Fitzherbert in 18^^, with other 
papers, in Coutts's Bank. It appears on Langdale's list as "No. i. The 
mortgage on the Palace at Brighton." Langdale, op. cit., p. 87. It is purely 
a legal document, and not necessary to be quoted here. 

2 Langdale, op. cit., p. 142. 



THE FINAL SEPARATION 327 

of Wales, whose turn was to come next. "The Princess of 
Wales," wrote Lady Charlotte Bury, "speaks highly of Mrs. 
Fitzherbert. She always says, 'That is the Prince's true wife. 
She is an excellent woman: it is a great pity he ever broke with 
her.'" 



CHAPTER XXIV 

THE REGENCY 

(1811-1820) 

In the brilliancy of the Regency Mrs. Fitzherbert had neither 
part nor lot. This is not the place to review the glories of that 
period, its beaux, its dandyism, its extravagances in costume, 
its affectations in manners, all of which owed their origin to 
the Regent. The Georgian era was already slowly dying, but 
it was dying in a blaze of 'meretricious splendour. Left to 
himself, separated from the only woman who cared for him, 
her restraining influence gone, the Regent now let himself drift 
down the slopes of self-indulgence and sensual gratification, 
which brought him eventually to a miserable end. With no 
one to foster his good impulses, or to encourage him in the 
paths of duty, he became in private life the selfish voluptuary, 
and in politics the weak vacillating creature of his later years. 
From the day of his separation from Mrs. Fitzherbert can be 
traced a steady deterioration both in body and mind. It was 
the Nemesis of his treatment of her.* 

Lady .Hertford must be regarded as the dame regnante of 
the Regency. Not a day passed, when the Regent was in 
London, but he visited her; and his brougham, with the purple 
blinds close drawn, was a familiar sight as he drove to Man- 
chester House. Lord Hertford held high posts at court; he 
was appointed the Lord Chamberlain and given the Garter. 
His son, Lord Yarmouth, also held appointments at court. 
He was a noted dandy who set the fashion in dress, and became 
the Regent's chief adviser in matters sartorial. His red whiskers 
and his title earned for him the nickname of "Bloater." ^ The 

1 He succeeded his father as third Marquess of Hertford. He married the 
celebrated Maria Fagiani. He was the original of Thackeray's Marquess of 
Steyne in "Vanity Fair." Disraeli portrayed him more truly in "Coningsby" 
as Lord Monmouth. 

328 



THE REGENCY 329 

Duke of Cumberland, a Protestant of the most Orange type, 
had taken the place of the Duke of York as chief adviser to 
his eldest brother. The Duke of York rarely saw the Re- 
gent, and so Mrs. Fitzherbert lost for a time her best friend at 
court. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert might have consoled herself with the 
thought that if she took no part in the Regent's magnificence 
she had also no share in his annoyances. These as time went 
on became very great. The question of the Regent's household 
expenses and his debts was never satisfactorily settled, and 
proved a chronic source of irritation. His continued excesses 
told upon his health — he was nearly always unwell; his growing 
corpulency wounded his vanity and defied all his efforts to 
check it. In political matters he was ever shifty and vacillating; 
neither side would trust him, and he bid fair to fall between the 
two stools of Whig and Tory. He had fallen into the hands of 
unworthy favourites, and, swayed first by one and then by 
another, he hardly seemed to have a will of his own. His 
domestic affairs became daily more exasperating to him. Time 
avenged the slighted counsels of Mrs. Fitzherbert with regard 
to the Princess Charlotte. She had warned the Regent of the 
evil consequences of treating his daughter with so little kindness, 
and her words were abundantly justified. The high-spirited 
girl, stung by her father's injustice, and alienated by his harsh 
treatment, openly espoused the cause of her mother. In vain 
the Regent interposed to check the intercourse between them 
— the young Princess defied him. Not daring to punish her 
as he wished, he retaliated on her mother, who was compelled 
to leave Kensington Palace, where she had been placed by 
George III., and had to retire to a small house in Connaught 
Place. Ill in health, worried by his debts, and harassed by 
domestic quarrels and countless annoyances, some sympathy 
must be extended to the unfortunate Regent. The women of 
his family were especially troublesome, and they were by no 
means so easily disposed of as Mrs. Fitzherbert had been. It 
was all his own fault, of course, but surely never was man so 
plagued by women before. His mother, feeling that her power 
was slipping away, was, as the Speaker said, "voracious in her 
claims," and worried her son even when he was ill; his sisters, 
usually so patient, had at last spoken out, and were clamouring 



330 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

for the money to set up separate establishments of their own; 
his daughter was in rebeUion, and his consort was making him 
an object of popular contempt. Thus he, the magnificent 
Regent, presented the undignified spectacle of a man contending 
against all the women of his family. 

Chief among all these women in revolt was the irrepressible 
Princess of Wales; she was a perpetual thorn in the side of her 
husband. Now that the Regent had declared open war by 
turning her out of her house, she delighted in thwarting him, 
and in making him appear ridiculous and contemptible. She 
wounded him in his tenderest part — his vanity. Despite her 
trials the Princess of Wales preserved an undaunted spirit; she 
seemed rather to enjoy the strife, and she breathed forth threat- 
enings and defiance against her husband. Popular feeling was 
wholly on her side, and on the side of the Princess Charlotte. 
"Don't desert your mother, dear," shouted the mob when she 
drove in the streets, and the young Princess responded with 
bows and smiles. The Regent was attacked by the press in 
language of unparalleled violence and scurrility. When he 
opened Parliament not a cheer greeted him, and cries of "Down 
with the Regent!" were by no means infrequent. The Regent 
ascribed all this to the Princess of Wales; his hatred of her 
became a mania, and once he was goaded into the following 
undignified exclamation. Some one at Carlton House was 
holding forth about the victories of the Duke of Wellington in 
the north. The Regent burst out, "Damn the north! and 
damn the south ! and damn Wellington ! The question is, how 
am I to be rid of this damned Princess of Wales?" That was 
a question that was not solved for many a long day. But the 
Regent took it into his head that since the King, her protector, 
was laid aside, he might on some pretext or other divorce the 
Princess of Wales and marry again. By such a marriage he 
might be rid of his detested wife, and (if the gods gave him a son) 
of his rebellious daughter. It has been said that this was one 
of his reasons for separating from- Mrs. Fitzherbert, as the 
question of his marriage with her might have been raised again, 
and so interfered with his plans. But that marriage had proved 
no obstacle in his way when he had espoused the Princess of 
Wales, and he was hardly likely to consider it seriously, now 
when he wished to get rid of her. But the Princess, supported 



THE REGENCY 331 

by her daughter, and with popular sympathy on her side, was 
not so easily got rid of. 

There is no need to enter here into the details of the struggle 
which followed. For five years the Regent was engaged in 
ceaseless disputes with the Princess of Wales and his daughter, 
and the scandal of these quarrels brought him ever-increasing 
unpopularity. In August 181 5 the Princess of Wales, worn-out 
by the long strife, committed the fatal mistake of leaving the 
country. Soon after her departure a reconciliation was patched 
up between the Regent and the Princess Charlotte, and in the 
following year (181 6) she was happily married to Prince Leopold 
of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Unfortunately, their happiness did not 
last long; on November 6, 181 7, the Princess Charlotte died in 
childbed, after giving birth to a still-born child, to the over- 
whelming grief of the nation. Just a year later (November 
1818), Queen Charlotte died. Her death attracted scarcely 
more than passing notice, and she was htde mourned by her 
children, and not at all by the pubhc. 

Through all these vicissitudes in the royal family, Mrs. 
Fitzherbert had no communication with the Regent. She hved 
in retirement, and the years of her life, coincident with the 
Regency, yield less information than any others. Since this 
period of her Hfe was uneventful, let us hope that it was happy. 
She adopted the same hne of conduct she had pursued at the 
time of her previous separation. She went on with her ordinary 
life just as though nothing had happened, whatever her suffer- 
ings were in private, and maintained a smihng face to the 
world; no word of reproach against the Regent crossed her hps, 
and if ever she mentioned him to her friends, it was with respect. 
The Regent no longer went to her house, nor did she appear at 
his parties; but as this state of affairs had been going on more 
or less for two years, it excited little comment. So, for some 
time after the separation was an accomphshed fact, people in 
general had no idea that it had taken place. An amusing 
instance of this occurred at Cheltenham, where Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert went in 181 2 to drink the waters. A pubhc entertainment 
was given in honour of the Princess Charlotte's birthday, to 
which she was invited, and went in duty bound. The gauche 
colonel who acted as master of ceremonies led her in to supper 
before all the other ladies present; he later made a speech in 



332 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

which he alluded to her as "the Regentess," and in order to 
make things pleasant all round, he proceeded to praise the 
Regent, his consort the Princess of Wales, and the Princess 
Charlotte, whom he described as "the lovely fruit of their 
union." Mrs. Fitzherbert sat through it all with smiling 
composure. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert during these years found great happiness 
in the training and education of her adopted daughter. Miss 
Seymour, and in the affection which existed between them. 
The guardianship of her ward was assured to her by the Regent 
by the terms of their separation, and Mrs. Fitzherbert had no 
longer to fear any opposition from the Seymour family. So 
amiable and conciliatory had been her conduct towards them, 
that they were now quite reconciled, even those who were at 
first most opposed. Miss Seymour's elder brother, George, was 
one of these. He writes, "In my early life I was so much at 
sea that I seldom saw Mrs. Fitzherbert, but when on shore I 
had always occasion to admire the maternal kindness with 
which she treated my sister; it was exemplary, and she endeav- 
oured to do what she considered my parents would have deemed 
of greatest importance, which was allowing Protestant instruc- 
tors to visit my sister regularly, and avoiding any effort to 
induce her to become a Cathohc. As years drew on, my former 
objection to her home being with Mrs. Fitzherbert weakened, 
when I saw how consistently her kindness to my sister was 
administered; her house was always open to my brothers and 
myself, and she always consulted me about my sister's welfare." ^ 
Miss Seymour well repaid the love which Mrs. Fitzherbert 
lavished on her. She returned her affection, and cheered the 
loneliness of her life. She grew up a most attractive and 
striking girl, full of grace, wit, and natural gaiete de cosur. She 
possessed in a marked degree that indefinable quality called 
charm, which attracted all people to her. The Countess Grey, 
writing to her daughter. Lady Georgiana Grey, thus spoke of 
Miss Seymour: "I always find it impossible to leave her; I do 
not know what charm she possesses ; I have seen cleverer people, 
and yet to me she is more captivating than they are. It seems 

1 Admiral Sir George Seymour, G.C.B. This quotation was made from a 
memorandum written by Sir George Seymour at Lady Georgina Bathurst's 
request. I am permitted to quote from it by members of the family. 



THE REGENCY 



333 



to me that being agreeable is a gift from Heaven which is not 
to be attained, and happy are those who possess it." 

For six years, until 1817, the year Miss Seymour came out, 
the greater part of Mrs. Fitzherbert's hfe was passed in retire- 
ment. Soon after her separation from the Regent, she bought 
a villa on the Thames, with a large garden, Sherwood Lodge, 
Battersea — a district very different then to what it is now — 
and there much of her time was spent. Both she and Miss 
Seymour dehghted in the garden, and found in it an interest' 
and an occupation.^ At Sherwood Lodge Mrs. Fitzherbert 
gave garden parties during the summer, and entertained her 
friends. Among her guests was the Prince of Holstein, who 
wrote to her of "ce temps gai que j'ai si souvent passe dans 
votre maison." The royal dukes often visited her at Sherwood 
Lodge, especially the Duke of York, who had helped her to 
choose this place of retreat. He wrote her in reply to her 
congratulations on his birthday : — 

H.R.H. the Duke 0} York to Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

"Brighton, August 20, 1812. 
"Accept my best thanks, my dear Friend, for your very 
kind letter, which only reached me yesterday, as well as all you 
are so good as to say to me on the anniversary of my birthday. 
Be assured that I am fully sensible of this fresh proof of the 
steady friendship which you have upon all occasions evinced 
for me for so many years. You know that there is no one 
more sincerely attached to you, or feels a more lively interest 
in everything concerning you, than I do. I am rejoiced to 
learn that you are so well pleased with, and feel yourself so 
.comfortable at, Sherwood Lodge; from what I could judge of 
the place, when I saw it with you, I am certain it was capable 
of being made very pretty, and I shall be very anxious as soon 
as I return to town to see all your improvements. Ever yours 
most affectionately, . Frederick." 

The Duke of Kent, who was at this time living abroad, did 

1 "Mrs. Fitzherbert (says the Morning Post) is one of the most scientific 
botanists in the kingdom, and her protegee, Miss Seymour, is not deficient in 
that way." — The Brighton Gazette, September 24, 1824. 



334 



MRS. FITZHERBERT 



not forget his old friend in his voluntary exile, as the following 
letter will show : — 

H.R.H. the Duke 0} Kent to Mrs. Fitzherhert, Sherwood Lodge, 

Battersea. 

" Brussels, Friday, December 20, 1816. 

"My ever dearest Mrs. Fitzherbert, — It is now four 
months since I left England, and rather more than that since I 
took my leave of you. During the first half of that time I have 
been a great traveller, and Httle able to write to any one; and 
during the two last months I have been so taken up with the 
necessary details to make myself comfortable, that I have been 
only just able to reply to those of my correspondents who have 
written to me here — amongst the number of whom it would 
have been a very great comfort, from all the attachment and 
affection I bear you, had I found that you too had thought of 
me. . . . 

"I shall now give you a hasty sketch of my proceedings 
since I left you, and commence by saying that I left dear Castle 
Hill at 3 o'clock on the 19th of August. ... I was detained 
here (in Brussels) till the 12th September last most unfortu- 
nately, owing to the non-arrival of my servants, equipage, and 
baggage, but it was well I stayed, for after I turned my back 
very little was done to this old mansion I occupy, until my 
return — all the workmen being called off to prepare for the 
court, who were to arrive about the third week in October. 
On the 12th September, however, I set out accompanied by 
Lieut. -Colonel Miiller of my regiment, in my travelling ba- 
routsch, with my valet, and one footman on the box and another 
in the corner, and passing through Liege, Aix-la-Chapelle, , 
Cologne, Coblentz, and Mayence, I reached Frankfort on the 
15th. There I stayed three days on account of meeting my 
old uncle, the then reigning Duke of Mecklenburg- Strelitz 
(since dead), and went in company with him to visit the Land- 
grave of Hesse-Homburg, whose eldest son was an old German 
companion of mine. There I saw a fine-ish young woman, a 
Princess of Anhalt- Dessau, granddaughter of the old people, 
who is talked of as my brother Adolphus's future bride, but 
perhaps with as little foundation as that odious Princess AmaHa 



THE REGENCY 



335 



of Baden, whom I find the papers have thought fit to give to 
me ! 

"From Frankfort I went to Darmstadt, where I passed an 
evening with my old acquaintances the Grand-Duke and 
Dutchess (formerly a celebrated beauty), by whom I was most 
hospitably received. The next day I went to Carlsruhe, where 
I saw the old Madam above alluded to [Princess Amalia], who 
is twin-sister of the Queen of Bavaria, sister of the Empress of 
Russia, of the ex-Queen of Sweden, of the Hereditary Grand 
Dutchess of Hesse-Darmstadt, and of the deceased Dutchess of 
[illegible]. But from her being the only one of he six sisters 
left on hand at the age of forly-one, and the eldest too, you may 
judge how little desirable she is. I must, however, say that I 
was most hospitably and magnificently entertained by the Land- 
gravine, her mother, and was compensated for the ennui of her 
company by becoming acquainted with that most hvely, fasci- 
nating little creature, Stephanie Beauharnais, now Grand 
Dutchess of Baden, her sister-in-law. 

"On the night of the 21st I left Carlsruhe, after a sejoiir 
there not exceeding thirty hours, and reached Stuttgard to 
breakfast on the 22nd, when you will easily imagine the pleasure 
my sister ^ and myself experienced after a separation of more 
than one-and-thirty years. I remained with her till the 3rd of 
October, I may say comble de politesses et d'' attentions from her 
husband, and with many proofs of affection from herself. 

" I had then intended going by way of Strasburg and Luxem- 
burg straight to Cambray, the original intention of the Duke 
of Wellington having been to hold his grand review on the 
nth or 12th; but the lateness of the harvest obHging him to 
postpone it till the 21st, I found I had just time to run over to 
Paris. . . . And so proceeding first to Wiirzburg to pay a visit 
to the Prince Royal of Bavaria, who married a cousin of ours, 
a very sweet woman, I pushed on by the route of Mannheim, 
Metz, and Verdun to Paris, which I reached on the 8th of 
October. The only incident that I met with worth noticing at 
Wiirzburg was my becoming acquainted there with the Empress 
of Austria, one of the plainest, yet one of the most pleasing, 
mannerly women, I have ever met with. . . . 

1 Charlotte, Queen of Wurtemburg, eldest daughter of George III. 



336 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

"I was most kindly received (in Paris) by all the royal 
family. I had two audiences of the King, and dined with him 
once. I also dined once with the Dutchess-Dowager of Or- 
leans, once with the English ambassador, and once with the 
Hanoverian Minister — all the other days at home. My even- 
ings I generally went to the theatre in a private box, and the 
morning I devoted to seeing those objects that I considered 

most deserving of attention, accompanied by , a very 

intelligent young man. I had thus the good fortune to be able 
to inspect everything with great comfort, being perfectly incog. 
except at Versailles, St. Cloud and Les Invalides, where I was, 
of course, obliged to appear with some one from the court to 
attend me. In short, the day was never long enough for all I 
had to do, and I left a great deal to see for another time. 

"I left Paris on the 19th for Cambray, taking on my way 
Chantilly and Compiegne. At the former place I saw the old 
Prince of Conde, much broke, yet apparently happy and re- 
signed; notwithstanding the dreadful state of the weather and 
the ground, on the morning of the 23rd at 6 o'clock we separated, 
he being bound for Paris and I to Brussels. Here I have re- 
mained ever since, except going once, on November 2nd, to 
take my Birthday dinner with the officers of my own Corps at 
their request, and upon which occasion the Duke of Wellington 
and Lord Hill came over from Cambray to meet me. . . . The 
court was already arrived here on my return from my journey. 
I was received by the King, Queen, Prince of Orange and his 
young >vife, and Prince Frederick his brother, with every pos- 
sible mark of pohteness and good-humour. I am asked to 
dine, or sup, with them whenever they have any public party, 
but this is rare, as the court live uncommonly retired by choice, 
perhaps more so than is good for the sake of establishing a 
degree of popularity in the new capital. Otherwise I accept 
no invitations, as there is such a mixture of company of all 
countries and politics in this place, that it would be quite im- 
possible to discriminate; and I only invite occasionally four, 
but oftener two, friends to dinner, to have my rubber of whist 
at what evenings we don't go to the theatre, where, by-the-bye, 
the performance is very passable. . . . 

"I continue to be an early riser, but not so early as I was at 
home, for I now rise at § past 6, or \ before 7, instead of at 5 



THE REGENCY 337 

as I used to do; and I am seldom out of bed after 11, the theatre 
rarely being over later than 10, and all parties, except amongst 
our countrymen, breaking up about the same hour. Thus you 
see I am living most quietly, and I trust contentedly, in the 
full spirit of my plan of economy and retrenchment. My 
house, though old, thanks to painting, papering, whitewashing, 
carpeting, and putting up a number of stoves, is very tolerably 
comfortable, totally isoU from any other, not overlooked, and 
with a fine flower garden and small shrubbery, a good deal of 
fruit on the wall and on standards, and I have the advantage 
of having all my horses, equipages, and stablemen within my 
own yard. 

"I had intended running over to England for about three 
weeks at the end of October, or beginning of November . . . 
but now I look forward to the probability, though not to the 
certainty, of paying you a visit in the spring. But whether I 
do so or not (after my presuming to bore you with so long a 
letter about myself, which nothing could warrant my doing but 
my confidence in your regard for me) do not doubt the sincerity 
of that lasting and warm attachment, with which I am, my 
dearest Mrs. Fitzherbert, ever your most faithful, devoted, and 
affectionate "Edward." 

Though Mrs. Fitzherbert made Sherwood Lodge her summer 
residence during these years, she was also sometimes in London 
and often at Brighton. It was for the sake of Miss Seymour 
that she still kept in touch with the world instead of retiring 
from it altogether (as her own inclinations tempted her to do), 
so that she might the better introduce her ward into the society 
worthy of her birth. The effort cost her much, but she was 
then, as always, supported by her friends; her social position 
had gained rather than lost by her separation from the Regent 
— at least among those of her friends who were worth having. 
We get glimpses of her during this period in contemporary 
memoirs and letters. We find her in 18 13 at a party given by 
Lord Clifford in honour of the Duke of Sussex, who was the 
royal duke who expressed himself strongly in favour of Eman- 
cipation. All the Roman Catholic elite were there, yet even 
among them the precise state of Mrs. Fitzherbert's relations 
with the Regent was not known. "Some say," writes Lady 



338 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Jerningham, "that the Prince does not see her any more, others 
that he divides his favours equally." ^ Again, the Dowager 
Lady Verulam writes to Mary Frampton (July 2, 1814): "We 
met yesterday the Mrs. Fitzherbert and her protegee ; she was 
driving herself in one of the fashionable carriages; they have 
four wheels and one horse and go at a great rate. One could 
not help moralising, as the road she was on was the very one 
on which the Princess of Wales was driven almost every day 
in her phaeton." ^ We find Mrs. Fitzherbert in 1814, the same 
week that the Princess of Wales left England, leaving Brighton 
for Paris with Miss Seymour, doubtless to avoid the Regent, 
who was coming to Brighton to entertain his mother Queen 
Charlotte on his birthday. Though she avoided him as much 
as possible, an occasional meeting was unavoidable. For 
instance, in 1815, about a fortnight before the Battle of Water- 
loo, they met in London at a ball given by the Countess of 
Ailesbury. The Regent arrived about one o'clock, and re- 
mained for an hour. He saw Mrs. Fitzherbert, but he took 
not the slightest notice of her, and we are told that she was 
"dreadfully overcome." On the other hand, a year or two 
later, Sir Henry Holland tells us, "I witnessed once, when 
meeting the Prince Regent and Mrs. Fitzherbert in the same 
room at Bridgewater House, that rejection of every intercourse 
on her part which gave origin to so many anecdotes, true or 
false, on the subject." ^ Mrs. Damer {nee Seymour) in after 
years related to one of her daughters that one evening at a 
great party in London — I believe at Devonshire House — she 
and Mrs. Fitzherbert were going up the stairs, and met the 
Regent face to face coming down. He stopped to speak to 
Miss Seymour with his usual kindness, but Mrs. Fitzherbert 
passed on, as though regardless of his presence, neither did she 
show any sign of agitation. From this it would seem that if 
the Regent would not speak to Mrs. Fitzherbert, neither would 
she speak to him. Probably they had tacitly agreed to ignore 
one another. 

The Regent's resentment against Mrs. Fitzherbert (if he 
cherished any) did not extend to Miss Seymour, whom he 

i"The Jerningham Letters," op. cit. 

^ "The Journal of Mary Frampton," op. cit. 

^Sir Henry Holland's "Memoirs." 



THE REGENCY 



339 



always treated with kindness. Sir George Seymour writes, 
"During the two years" (after the Seymour case), "the Prince 
continued to be much at Mrs. Fitzherbert's; his fondness towards 
Mary was continually shown — afterwards he rarely saw her. 
He usually sent her a small birthday present, and on the day 
when she attained her twenty-first year he addressed a note 
to her to say that when she was very young he had put by 
;^io,ooo for her, and was happy to find the interest had in- 
creased to make it nearly ;^2o,ooo. He therefore enclosed a 
draft on Messrs. Coutts in her favour for that sum. This was 
generous on the part of His Royal Highness, and unexpected, 
as when his offer to settle that sum on her, on condition that the 
guardians left her with Mrs. Fitzherbert, was refused, the offer 
was supposed to have dropped with the refusal." ^ 

The Regent went comparatively seldom to Brighton at this 
period, and Mrs. Fitzherbert frequently. After Miss Seymour 
came out, he always invited her to the parties he gave at the 
Pavilion, if she were at Brighton, and Mrs. Fitzherbert wished 
her to go, though she herself no longer went there. For in- 
stance, we find Miss Seymour at the Pavilion on January 7, 
1817, the last birthday of the Princess Charlotte. "The ball," 
we read, "was opened by the Duke of Clarence and Lady 
Cholmondeley, Prince Esterhazy and the Hon. Miss Seymour, 
[she is always thus styled in the local papers], to the lively tones 
of stringed instruments and the tambour, and kept up with 
unflagging spirit, with interval for supper, until nearly six a.m." 
The following week the Grand-Duke Nicholas of Russia, after- 
wards the Emperor Nicholas I., arrived at the Pavilion on a 
visit to the Regent, and splendid entertainments were given in 
his honour. Again we read: "The Grand-Duke's partner dur- 
ing the ball was generally the Hon. Miss Seymour, ward of 
Mrs. Fitzherbert." Mrs. Fitzherbert also gave a dance at 
Brighton, at which "a select circle of fashionables were present." 

This year (181 7) Mrs. Fitzherbert and Miss Seymour went 
to Paris ^ for some time. In Paris Mrs. Fitzherbert was well 
received by the French royal family, who treated her with 

1 Memorandum of Admiral Sir George Seymour, G.C.B. 

2 "The French papers say, 'Madame Fitzherbert, who is extensively known 
in England for her excellent qualities, has arrived in Paris, where she intends 
to reside for some weeks.'" — Brighton Herald, October 4, 181 7. 



340 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

great respect. They regarded her as the morganatic wife of 
the Regent; Roman Cathohcs themselves, they knew that most 
of her troubles had arisen from her steadfastness to her religion, 
and they honoured her accordingly. Also, when the Orleanist 
Princes were in England, Mrs. Fitzherbert saw a good deal of 
them, and entertained them with her usual hospitality. Louis 
Philippe wrote to her shortly before his return to France a 
letter in which he said, "I thank you with all my heart for your 
past, present, and future kindness to me, for which I am very 
grateful," ^ and when she came to Paris he did his best to repay 
that kindness. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert was back in Brighton for Christmas and 
for the New Year (1818). The Regent was also there, but he 
was ill, and in low spirits, and all the gaieties of the Pavilion 
were suspended on account of the court mourning. But he 
superintended the decorations of his banqueting room and the 
music room; his passion for pulling his house about continued 
unabated. Croker, who was visiting Brighton at this time, 
seems to have thought that the secluded life led there by the 
Regent was due to the presence of Mrs. Fitzherbert. He makes 
the following ill-informed remarks in his Journal: "I cannot 
but wonder at her (Mrs. Fitzherbert) living here and bearding 
the Prince in a way so indelicate, vis-a-vis the pubhc, and, I 
should have thought, so embarrassing to herself. To her 
presence is attributed the Prince's never going abroad at 
Brighton. I have known H.R.H. here seven or eight years, 
and never saw or heard of his being on foot out of the limits 
of the Pavilion, and in general he avoids even riding through 
the principal streets. I cannot see how poor old Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert . . . can cause him any uneasiness." ^ 

That the Regent had no feeling on the subject, is shown by 
his asking Miss Seymour to the Pavilion. The habit of retire- 
ment was growing on him, and was to lead before long to an 
almost oriental habit of seclusion, not only in Brighton, but 
also in London and at Windsor. Croker also writes in his 
Journal a day or two later: "One reason why Mrs. Fitzherbert 

1 Letter of Louis Philippe to Mrs. Fitzherbert, dated Twickenham, July i8, 
1815, signed "Yours affect'y, L. P. d'Orleans." 

2 "The Croker Papers: The Correspondence and Diaries of the Right Hon. 
John Wilson Croker, &c." Edited by Louis J. Jennings, 1884. 



THE REGENCY 341 

may like this place is that she is treated as queen, at least of 
Brighton. They don't quite Highness her in her domestic 
circle, but they Madam her prodigiously, and stand up longer 
for her arrival than for ordinary folks, and in short, go as near 
to acknowledging her for princess as they can, without actually 
giving her the title. When she dines out she expects to be led 
out to dinner before peeresses — mighty foohsh all this! The 
Duke of York still keeps up a correspondence with her, for 
Seymour mentioned she had had a letter from his Royal High- 
ness this morning. I daresay the Prince would not be much 
pleased if he knew this.".^ 

Croker exaggerated, but Mrs. Fitzherbert was undoubtedly 
treated with peculiar deference by her friends, not only at 
Brighton, but elsewhere; it was the only way they could show 
her their sympathy and mark their disapproval of the Regent's 
ill-treatment of her, for no allusion to the subject ever crossed 
her lips. 

The death of the Princess Charlotte had made a great 
difference to the position of the royal brothers. The Duke of 
York, Mrs. Fitzherbert's great friend, had now become heir- 
presumptive to the throne. He had no children by his mar- 
riage, and the Dukes of Clarence, Kent, and Cambridge were 
unmarried. The Duke of Cumberland had married the pre- 
vious year, and the Duke of Sussex had contracted a "left- 
handed" marriage. As it was thought necessary to provide 
for the succession, the Dukes of Clarence, Kent, and Cambridge 
made haste to be wed. The necessary princesses (German, of 
course) were found; and within the year that followed the 
death of the Princess Charlotte, the three Royal Dukes were 
duly espoused. The Duke of Clarence married Adelaide, 
Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Meiningen, the Duke of Kent married 
Victoria Mary Louisa, daughter of the Prince of Saxe-Saalfeld- 
Coburg, and widow of Charles Louis, Prince of Leiningen, and 
the Duke of Cambridge married Augusta, daughter of Frederick 
of Hesse- Cassel. 

The Duke of Kent's marriage made no difference to the 
feeHngs of friendship that he entertained for Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
for we find him writing again a few weeks after it had taken 
place : — 

1 Croker, op. cit. 



342 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

H.R.H. the Duke of Kent to Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

"Kensington Palace, J past 2 o'clock, 

Tuesday afternoon, August 25, 1818. 

"My ever dearest Mrs. Fitzherbert, — Having at 
length the prospect of being able (if you will admit me towards 
7 or 8 o'clock this evening) to spend half-an-hour with you, 
perhaps the only moment I may have (as in fact it has been 
hitherto) before I leave England, I send this over by a messenger 
to say that I will take my chance and call at your door, at all 
events. In the meantime, pray do me the justice to believe 
that you have never been out of my thoughts, and that nothing 
but the situation I have been placed in for the last seven weeks, 
could have made me either abstain from writing, or calling, 
until now. Neither time nor situation can alter the warmth 
and sincerity of my attachment for you. 

"Remember me kindly to dear Miss Seymour, and accept 
the assurance of all that unalterable, lively, and friendly regard, 
with which I shall remain to the latest hour of my existence, 
my ever dearest Mrs. Fitzherbert, your most affectionate and 

d^^°^^^ "Edward." 

Mrs. Fitzherbert saw the Duke of Kent; it was the last 
time they met. 

Shortly after this the Duke went abroad, but he returned to 
England the following spring, in order that his child might be 
born in England. The Princess Victoria was born on May 24, 

1819, at Kensington Palace. The amiable Prince, her father, 
died on January 23, 1820, when the Princess Victoria was only 
eight months old. The Duke of Kent's death was followed 
six days later by one of greater importance in the royal family. 
The old King George III. died at midnight on January 29, 

1820, and the Regent ascended the throne as George IV. 




GEORGE IV. AT THE TIME HE ASCENDED 
THE THRONE 




CHAPTER XXV 

THE TRIAL OF QUEEN CAROLINE 

(1820-1821) 

The accession of George IV. brought little change to him 
except a change of title, for all the essential attributes of king- 
ship had been his during the Regency. It brought, however, 
an addition of income (though not sufficient for his needs) and 
some increase of prerogative. As King he was able to indulge 
more freely in the pageantry so dear to his heart. Vested in 
purple and gold he opened Parhament, seated on a new throne. 

One of the King's first acts was to try to get rid of his Queen. 
The unfortunate Caroline had been Hving abroad since 18 14; 
her erratic conduct had given occasion for scandal, and after 
the death of her daughter she seems to have become reckless. 
She played into the hands of her enemies. George IV. had 
long cherished a plan for divorcing her, and when death re- 
moved the Princess Charlotte, her only true friend and pro- 
tectress, he lost no time in putting it into motion. He appointed 
a secret committee to watch Caroline's conduct abroad, and 
collect evidence against her; she was pursued by spies and 
subjected to insult. When the King came to the throne the 
British ambassadors and ministers at foreign courts were in- 
structed not to recognise her as Queen- Consort, and her name 
was left out of the Liturgy. These tactics, coupled with a 
rumour that action was to be taken against her, determined the 
Queen to return to England and meet her accusers face to face. 
This, of all things, the British Government was anxious to 
prevent. Ministers had already advised the King not to attempt 
to divorce his Queen; they now tried to bribe her with an offer 
of ;^5o,ooo per annum to stay abroad and forego the title and 
prerogatives of Queen- Consort; and they threatened her with 
criminal proceedings if she returned to England. The bribe 

343 



344 



MRS. FITZHERBERT 



was never satisfactorily explained to the Queen; her advocate 
Brougham seems to have played in this matter a double part, 
and her answer to the threats of the King and the Government 
was to defy them and to set out for England at once. Thus 
would an innocent woman have acted, conscious of her inno- 
cence. The intrepid Queen landed at Dover on June 6, 1820; 
she was welcomed with a royal salute thundered out from the 
Castle, the commandant having had no instructions to the con- 
trary; the whole population of the town turned out to greet her; 
she was received with frantic cheers and acclamations of delight. 
When she set out for London that same evening, a crowd 
followed her; the horses were taken out of her coach, and the 
people drew her for some distance out of the town. Her journey 
from Dover to London was a royal progress. At Canterbury 
she was met by a torchlight procession, tumultuous applause, 
and an address of welcome; she lay there the night, and next 
morning proceeded on her way. As she drew near London a 
vast cavalcade came out to meet her; the road was lined with 
tens of thousands, who shouted themselves hoarse, and when 
she passed over Westminster Bridge the cheers of the multitude 
sounded inside the walls of ParHament hke the roaring of the 
sea, and warned the King's Ministers of the dangers and diffi- 
culties of the course on which they had entered. The Queen's 
popularity was overwhelming; the masses of the people were on 
her side; they considered her to be a persecuted woman, the 
victim of a base plot against her honour and perhaps her life. 
The mob, who cheered her whithersoever she went, did not 
care greatly whether she were innocent or guilty; they admired 
her courage, they were indignant at her wrongs, and they 
detested her persecutor. 

The day after the Queen's arrival in London, the portentous 
"green bag," supposed to be filled with evidence against the 
Queen, was carried down to Parliament. The question whether 
it should be opened or not formed the subject of impassioned 
debate. The King invited the House of Lords "to give serious 
attention to the charges against his consort." The Queen sent 
a message to the House of Commons protesting against the 
evidence of the hired spies and secret agents, who had sought 
to destroy her honour and peace abroad. She declared that 
she had returned to England to confront her persecutors; she 



TRIAL OF QUEEN CAROLINE 345 

denounced all attempt at secrecy, and demanded an open trial. 
Frightened by her intrepid demeanour and the popular ferment, 
attempts were again made by the Ministers to arrange matters 
with the Queen, and the following offer was submitted to her: 
— She was to have an income of ;;^5o,ooo a year, an "official 
announcement of her position" was to be given to foreign 
courts, and addresses were to be presented to her from both 
Houses of Parliament. On her part she was to leave England 
as soon as possible in a King's ship and to reside abroad; her 
name was not to appear in the Liturgy. Had these terms been 
offered to the Queen while she was still abroad she would have 
no doubt accepted them, but her overwhelming popularity in 
England had turned her head. Four delegates from the House 
of Commons waited on her at Lady Anne Hamilton's house in 
Portman Square, where she was staying, with these offers. 
She received the deputation "sternly and haughtily," insisted 
on her full rights as Queen-Consort, and rejected all compro- 
mise. When it was known to the crowd outside that she had 
refused, their shouts might have been heard at Charing Cross. 
The popular enthusiasm of the multitude was greater than 
before; even the army began to shout, "The Queen for ever!" 
As Luttrell wittily said, "the extinguisher was taking fire." 

The Queen's refusal was made on the 22nd June. As she 
would accept no compromise. Ministers, having gone so far, 
had no option but to go further. They could not withdraw 
from the position they had taken up. Accordingly, the green 
bag was opened and its contents examined by a parliamentary 
committee. This committee reported on the 4th July, and 
the "Bill of Pains and Penalties" was introduced by Lord 
Liverpool, the Prime Minister, in the House of Lords on the 
following day. This Bill was to deprive the Queen of her 
rights and privileges as Queen-Consort, and to dissolve the 
marriage between her and George IV. on the ground of 
her adultery. The first reading passed as a matter of form, 
the Queen protesting by counsel; the second reading was fixed 
for August 17. 

The Queen moved to Brandenburg House, Hammersmith, 
and there waited the opening of the trial. She did not pass 
the interval in quiet retirement, but daily received deputations 
and addresses from all sorts and conditions of men and women; 



346 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

she heartily welcomed these signs that the people were on her 
side, and professed herself undaunted. But it must have been 
an anxious time with her; it was scarcely less anxious for the 
King. 

There was also a third person who was only a degree less 
concerned in this trial than the principals — Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
In November, 1819, Mrs. Fitzherbert, accompanied by Miss 
Seymour, had gone to Paris for a stay of some months, intending 
to return to England in the spring. Tom Moore in his Diary 
mentions meeting her at a party in Paris on Christmas Day, 
1819. "Mrs. Fitzherbert, too, who I thought had cut me, gave 
me a very kind greeting." ^ He met her again, March 10, 1820, 
at Madame de Flahaut's, who was an Englishwoman, and 
had married the former French ambassador in England, and 
was now one of the most popular hostesses in Paris.^ The 
news of the old King's death, and of George IV. 's accession, 
reached Mrs. Fitzherbert in Paris. The event made little 
difference to her, for the King continued to her the same in- 
come he had guaranteed to her when Regent, and their relations 
towards one another had long since crystallised into an amicable 
separation. But Mrs. Fitzherbert knew that, with a character 
as vacillating as George IV. 's, one could never be sure what 
developments might arise, and she was preparing to return to 
England when the news reached her that the King intended to 
divorce his Queen. Mrs. Fitzherbert knew, none better, the 
hatred with which the King regarded his consort, but knowing 
also all the circumstances of the case, she could at first hardly 
believe that he would be so foolish as to take a step which 
would inevitably bring down upon his head an avalanche of 
abuse and recrimination, and force open the door for an inves- 
tigation into his own past hfe. With that past life, for good 
or for evil, Mrs. Fitzherbert was identified, and though she had 
all to gain and nothing to lose by the true facts of her connection 
with the King becoming known, she was too magnanimous to 
desire a vindication at the expense of the King's dishonour and 
mortification. 

1 "Memoirs, Journals, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore." Edited by 
Lord John Russell, 1853. 

2 Comtesse de Flahaut, nee Margaret Mercer Elphinstone, afterwards 
Baroness Keith and Nairn, was a great heiress; died 1867. 



TRIAL OF QUEEN CAROLINE 347 

Like many another, Mrs. Fitzherbert hoped that a com- 
promise would be arrived at between the King and Queen. 
All doubts on the subject were, however, dispelled by the return 
of the Queen, the uproar and confusion that followed, and the 
introduction of the "Bill of Pains and Penalties." This turn 
of events determined Mrs. Fitzherbert to stay in Paris. She 
remembered the abuse showered on her innocent head at the 
time of "the deHcate investigation," and though now she was 
wholly separated from the King, she deemed it wiser to stay 
away until the trial should be over. There was another and 
graver reason. Queen Caroline's friends were not slow to 
carry the war into the enemy's quarter, and they threatened, in 
the event of the proceedings turning against the Queen, to rake 
up the whole of the King's past Hfe, not his amours merely (he 
would have cared very little about them), but to revive the 
question of his secret marriage to Mrs. Fitzherbert. Queen 
Caroline was credited with saying, with characteristic coarse- 
ness, when she learned the charges against her, "Well, I have 
only committed adultery with one man, and he was Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert's husband." Whether she really said this or not, the 
mot was repeated far and wide, and it was whispered that the 
secret marriage was to be one of the planks in the Queen's 
defence. If the question were raised, witnesses would have to 
be subpoenaed, documents impounded, the whole miserable 
business of thirty-five years ago raked up again, and Mrs. 
Fitzherbert pictured herself, at the age of sixty-four, dragged 
before the tribunal of the House of Lords and threatened with 
the mysterious penalties of premunire. It is no wonder that 
she elected to stay on the other side of the Channel, with certain 
documents that she always carried about with her safe in her 
possession, until the danger was passed. In speaking of this 
possibihty years after, she said that "such an ordeal would have 
broken her heart." Fortunately she was not called upon to 
face it, for matters were not pushed to such a crisis. 

On August 17, 1820, the trial of Queen Carohne began 
before the House of Lords. The Queen attended in person, 
and was present on every day of the trial; her progress to and 
from the House of Lords being the occasion of popular demon- 
strations. There is no need to recall here the dramatic incidents 
of the great trial — the Queen's intrepid bearing, the wild en- 



348 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

thusiasm of the populace, the miserable character of the wit- 
nesses, the base and partial nature of their evidence, and the 
eloquence of her counsel. Neither need we raise the vexed 
question of her guilt or innocence. Innocent or guilty, she was 
a cruelly ill-used woman, and the man who dragged her to the 
judgment-seat should have been the last person in the world to 
accuse her, since much that she had done wrong, was in conse- 
quence of his ill-treatment. By September 7 the case for the 
Crown had concluded, and the House adjourned until October 
3, to give time for the Queen's defence to be prepared. Thus 
there was another month of suspense and inaction. 

On October 3, the House of Lords met again. The Queen 
was in her place as before, pale and worn, but undaunted. 
Never was client better served by counsel. But the figure of 
the solitary woman sitting there, friendless, her daughter dead, 
her parents dead, her brother powerless to help, herself aged 
and weary, spoke eloquently on her behalf. As Denman, one 
of the Queen's counsel, finely said, apropos of the omission of 
her name from the Liturgy, that the omission was an insult, 
but before the throne of God it would make no difference, 
"since she was already prayed for under the heading of 'all 
who are desolate and oppressed.'" 

In Brougham's great speech for the defence, he made a 
pointed allusion to the King's marriage to Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
He said he hoped that he could establish the Queen's innocence 
without having recourse to recrimination, or uttering "one 
whisper, whether by way of attack, or by way of insinuation, 
against the conduct of her illustrious husband;" therefore, for 
the present, he should waive the right that he possessed, and 
abstain from the use of materials which were his; but he threat- 
ened that if he were disappointed in his expectation that the 
case against the Queen would break down of itself, he would not 
shrink from the fearless discharge of his sacred duty to protect 
his chent "at all hazards, and against all others," and in the 
discharge of that duty he, as her advocate, would not "regard 
the alarm, the suffering, the torment, the destruction, which he 
might bring upon any others. Nay, separating even the duties 
of a patriot from those of an advocate, and casting them, if 
need be, to the wind, he must go on reckless of the conse- 
quences, if his fate it should unhappily be to involve his country 



m^ ";-^*sy«:si] 





QUEEN CAROLINE, CONSORT OF GEORGE IV. 



TRIAL OF QUEEN CAROLINE 349 

in conjusiony^ By this allusion, Brougham threatened, if the 
Queen were not acquitted, to raise the whole question of the 
King's^ previous marriage to Mrs. Fitzherbert. In his "Me- 
moirs," Brougham has made this clear. He writes: — 

"Independent of our support from the people, and even 
upon the supposition of the case appearing against us, I had a 
sure resource — a course that could not have failed, even if the 
Bill had actually passed the Lords. The threat which I held 
out in opening the defence was supposed to mean recrimination; 
and no doubt it included that. We had abundant evidence of 
the most unexceptionable kind, which would have proved a 
strong case against the King — indeed, an unquestionable one 
of that description; but we never could be certain of this proving 
decisive with both Houses, and it assuredly never would have 
been sufficient to make the King give up the Bill. . . . When 
I said that it might be my painful duty to bring forward what 
would involve the country in confusion, I was astonished that 
anybody should have conceived recrimination to be all I in- 
tended. ... It was of the last importance that the real ground 
of the defence should be brought forward by surprise, or at all 
events that it should be presented at once in its full proportions, 
and by a short and clear statement. The ground, then, was 
neither more nor less than impeaching the King's own title, by 
proving that he had forfeited the crown. He had married a 
Roman Catholic (Mrs. Fitzherbert) while heir-apparent, and 
this is declared by the Act of Settlement to be a forfeiture of 
the Crown ^ as though he were naturally dead.'' We were not in 
possession of all the circumstances as I have since ascertained 
them, but we had enough to prove the fact. Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
uncle, Mr. Errington, who was present at the marriage — indeed 
it was performed in his house ^ — was still alive, and though, 
no doubt, he would have had the right to refuse answering a 
question to which an affirmative reply exposed him to the 
pains and penalties of premunire, denounced against any person 
present at such marriage, it was almost certain that, on Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's behalf, he would have waived the protection, and 
given his testimony to prove the marriage: but even his refusal 
would have left the conviction in all men's minds that the 

1 Not correct. The marriage was performed at Mrs. Fitzherbert's own 
house in Park Street. 



350 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

marriage had taken place. However, there existed ample evi- 
dence, which Errington would undoubtedly have enabled us to 
produce, without the possibility of incurring any penalties 
whatever." ^ 

But there was no occasion to proceed to such extreme 
measures. The torrent of Brougham's eloquence and logic in 
his opening speech was all-convincing. It soon became evident 
that it would not be necessary for him to launch his thunderbolt 
by raising the question of the King's secret marriage to a Roman 
Catholic. There was no need of recrimination against the 
King; there was no need even to call witnesses in the Queen's 
defence. The case against her broke down, and on the third 
reading of the Bill the majority in the House of Lords had sunk 
to nine. The Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, seeing the utter 
hopelessness of carrying the Bill through the House of Commons, 
and anxious to end the dangerous agitation without doors, 
stood up in his place in the House of Lords and announced, on 
behalf of the Government, the withdrawal of the Bill against 
the Queen. Such was the "acquittal of Queen Caroline." 
The Queen was present to hear the result; though shuddering 
with anxiety, she was courageous to the last. She wrote " Caro- 
line Regina" across a document with a firm hand, and then, 
victorious and triumphant, went forth to meet her friends, the 
people, who had gathered, a countless host, outside the walls of 
Parliament. They received her with frenzied acclamations and 
generous exultation. 

Thus passed the only chance of the truth of Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert's marriage becoming known to the world in her day and 
generation. But her anxiety was so great that she did not 
realise this aspect of the case at the time. In her shelter in 
Paris she heard the result of the Queen's trial with great relief, 
and in the autumn of 1820, popular excitement having to some 
extent subsided, she returned to England. 

We find her at Brighton as usual for Christmas and the 
New Year. At Brighton she emerged somewhat from her 
seclusion, for we read of her giving "a brilliant party, at which 
amateur theatricals were performed. Lord Normanby and Miss 

^ "Lord Brougham's Memoirs," vol. ii. pp. 405-8. Further quotations from 
the "Memoirs," touching the legal aspects of the case, have been given in a 
previous chapter on the validity of the marriage. 



• j 



^^ 




TRIAL OF QUEEN CAROLINE 351 

Seymour acting the leading parts." ^ George IV. also came to 
Brighton at the end of February for a month, but between Steine 
House and the Pavilion there was no communication. The 
King was ill with gout and disappointment at the result of the 
trial. He saw few people, and entertained not at all. He was 
worried by endless petitions about his Queen, and, though he 
feigned indifference, he was almost driven crazy by the annoyance. 

The King presently forgot his vexations in a new interest. 
He had resolved to be crowned, and he was determined, all 
untoward circumstances notwithstanding, that no coronation 
before or since should be so magnificent as his. The prepara- 
tions for it engrossed all his energies through the spring and 
early summer of 182 1. When Queen Carohne heard of it she 
insisted on being crowned likewise; the demand was refused, on 
the ground that the King's Consort was only crowned according 
to the King's pleasure. The coronation of George IV. took 
place at Westminster Abbey, with great state and splendour. 
There was only one circumstance which dimmed its lustre; the 
Queen, the refusal notwithstanding, was determined to be 
present at the ceremony. On the morning of the coronation 
she presented herself at the doors of the Abbey and endeavoured 
to force an entrance. She was refused admittance, and her 
nerve failing her at the last moment, she gave up the attempt 
and made her way back to Brandenburg House amid the jeers 
of the fickle mob. This mortification, added to the excitement 
she had already undergone, brought about an illness which 
proved fatal. She died at her house in South Audley Street on 
August 7, 182 1, meeting her death with fortitude and blessing 
her enemies. Thus ended her troubled life, but even her 
funeral procession was attended with riots during its passage 
through London. Her remains were conveyed to Brunswick, 
and buried there in the vault of her ancestors. 

The King had embarked at Holyhead, bound for a visit to 
Ireland, when the news of the Queen's death reached him. He 
submitted to a few days' decent retirement, and then continued 
his voyage. The day he landed in Ireland, he declared to be 
"the happiest day of his hfe" — it was the day the ill-fated 
Caroline was buried at Brunswick. 

1 Brighton Herald, February lo, 1821. 



352 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Mrs. Fitzherbert spent the summer of 182 1 at her villa at 
Battersea. She was not present at the coronation. On this 
occasion also the "two wives were left at home," though one 
of them had refused to stay there. 

When the King returned from Ireland after the death of the 
unhappy Caroline, he told Mrs. Fitzherbert that he intended 
to marry again. Her answer was "Very well. Sir," and in this 
curt reply may be read the measure of her contempt. Lord 
Stourton, who is responsible for this statement, adds: "She 
ordered horses with a resolution to abandon the country, and 
was only prevented from doing so that day by the interposition 
of a common friend." The "common friend" was probably 
the Duke of York, and the King must have sent her the message 
through him, for there is no record that he ever exchanged a 
word with her after their separation in 181 2. Very hkely it 
was on this occasion that Mrs. Fitzherbert showed the Duke of 
York her marriage certificate, and made him realise for the 
first time how deeply the King's honour was pledged to her. 
The Duke, who was a true gentleman, respected her confidence, 
and forbore to take advantage of it. He must have known 
what the King's marriage to a Roman Catholic meant to him, 
and his interests as heir-presumptive to the throne were against 
the King's marrying again. But perhaps he did not take either 
the past or the future marriage very seriously. 

At the end of September the King set out on a visit to 
Hanover, and it was rumoured that while there he meant to 
seek a wife among the numerous Protestant princesses of 
Germany. But he returned to England without one. There 
was now an influence at home (far more potent than Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's or the Duke of York's) at work to prevent the 
King marrying again. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

THE LADY STEWARD 

(1821-1825) 

Though the King had not succeeded in divorcing his 
Queen, he had been more successful in getting rid of Lady 
Hertford. Their separation took place about the time George 
IV. ascended the throne. Lady Hertford had long wearied 
him, and no doubt he had long wearied her; she was too re- 
served, too dignified, too cold for his taste. The wonder is that 
her influence over him had lasted so long, for he was not a man 
who affected intellectual friendships with women. Moreover, 
she was growing old, and the King, who in his youth had 
always admired women older than himself, now in his later 
years preferred them younger. For some time past he had 
been attracted by the charms of tl^e Marchioness Conyngham,^ 
who was in the full maturity of her beauty. Lady Conyngham 
was fair and plump, with a complexion of hlies and roses, blue 
eyes and golden hair; in short, she was very much like what 
Mrs. Fitzherbert had been at her zenith. She was far removed 
from the reproach of being intellectual, and unhke Lady Hert- 
ford, her enthusiasms were for individuals and not for causes. 
She had a sweet smile and the gift of lively, animated conversa- 
tion ; she flattered the King and amused him — in short, she 
kept him in a good humour, and as he had enough worry and 
annoyance elsewhere, it would be hard to grudge him the 
pleasure he found in her society. George IV. created for her 
the post of "Lady Steward," which made her the mistress of 
his household. Lord Conyngham became Lord Chamberlain. 
Many wondered why Lady Conygnham accepted such a position 
— why she was allowed to accept it. She had a husband, a 
man of high rank and wealth; she had a grown-up daughter, 

1 Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Denison, Esq., and wife of third Baron and 
first Marquess Conyngham. 



354 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

"just out," a beautiful creature like her mother; she had a son, 
a handsome, high-spirited young man ; she had, in short, almost 
everything a woman could wish — why should she imperil an 
assured position by becoming a King's favourite? If her eyes 
were bhnded by vanity. Lord Conyngham's were not likely to 
be, for he was a man of sense and honour. We therefore take 
it that, as a contemporary writer says, "her husband was per- 
fectly satisfied of the harmlessness of the intimacy"; and since 
he was satisfied, it was obviously not the business of any one 
else to cavil. Still, there are always people who put evil con- 
structions on the most harmless friendships. Lady Conyng- 
ham's brother, Mr. Denison, was one of them; he remonstrated 
with his sister for accepting the appointment, and threatened 
to alter his will. Lady Conyngham, in tears of rage and 
defiance, protested her innocence, and justified everything she 
did by the precedent of Lady Hertford, whom she declared to 
be a model of decorum. Lady Hertford was not so charitable; 
when some one asked her if the King had ever mentioned Lady 
Conyngham to her, she haughtily replied that, "intimately as 
she had known the King, and openly as he had always talked 
to her upon every subject, he had never ventured to speak to 
her on that of his mistresses. ''' ^ There was nothing to prove 
that Lady Conyngham deserved such a title, but this uncharita- 
bleness was perhaps due to something more than jealousy of 
a triumphant rival. At the time of Queen CaroHne's trial, the 
mob, always behind-hand in these matters, smashed Lady 
Hertford's windows, while Lady Conyngham's were left un- 
touched. By-and-by, when the people became aware of Lady 
Conyngham's existence, they applied to her the same epithet as 
Lady Hertford had done, and most of the writers of contem- 
porary memoirs have endorsed it. But it is quite probable that 
they were wrong. The King h ved alone ; he was growing old, 
his health was failing. His home was not a bright one — for 
this he had himself to thank. His favourite sister, the Duchess 
of Gloucester, had her own interests and duties; and his un- 
married sister, the Princess Augusta, suffered from ill-health; 
otherwise, she would have been the most fitting person to pre- 
side over his court. The King liked female society; he liked 

1 " Greville Memoirs." 



THE LADY STEWARD 355 

to have a lady who would sit at his dinner-table and reign over 
his household. Mrs. Fitzherbert had filled the position for 
many years by right; Lady Hertford had occupied it at the 
King's pleasure; and now it was filled by Lady Conyngham 
with the consent of her husband, who was Lord Chamberlain. 
Lady Conyngham was very decorative, no wonder the King 
liked to see her near him at dinner; she was very bright and 
amusing, no wonder he enjoyed her society; and for the rest — 
honi soil qui mat y pense. 

The King was free to create a "Lady Steward" if he wished 
to do so ; in that there was no reason for scandal. Nevertheless, 
he was unfortunate in his choice. Despite her rank, her beauty 
and vivacity. Lady Conyngham was a woman with a vulgar 
mirid ; she was self-seeking, and took a low view of human nature 
generally. It soon became apparent that her influence over the 
King was far worse than Lady Hertford's had ever been. She 
flattered him to the top of his bent, she affected to believe his 
preposterous delusions, she encouraged him in his prejudices, 
and his self-indulgent habits. Knowing how fickle he was, and 
fearful lest any alien influence should endanger her sway, she 
encouraged his growing tendency to seclusion until he became 
almost a hermit, rarely showing himself in public, scarcely 
going outside the grounds, and sometimes for days not quitting 
his palace. This was partly due to his vanity, for he had grown 
very corpulent, and he was intensely sensitive to ridicule. The 
King now took no walking exercise, and his indolence became 
a confirmed habit. If ambition had been Lady Hertford's 
ruling passion, avarice was Lady Conyngham's; she coveted 
everything she saw, and the infatuated King gave her every- 
thing she asked for, even to Crown jewels. She appeared at 
Devonshire House with a sapphire on her head which had 
belonged to the Stuarts, a royal heirloom. The heir-presump- 
tive to the throne, the Duke of York, was very indignant, but 
he did not dare remonstrate with his brother. Nor did the 
Lady Steward, or "The Lady," as she was generally called, 
confine her activities to the royal household, which she filled 
with her creatures; she interfered in every department of the 
State; she even nominated to bishoprics, of course through the 
King, and she plotted with the Duke of Cumberland against 
the King's Ministers. Such a woman was not likely to let 



356 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

power slip from her grasp. She bound the King with silken 
cords, so soft that he did not suspect their strength. She soon 
disabused the King of his idea of marrying again. Ill, and 
growing daily more indolent, George IV. was unable to resist 
her; the matter dropped, and Lady Conyngham took care' that 
it should never be revived. 

At the time of Lady Hertford's downfall, and again after 
Queen Caroline's death, there were rumours that the King and 
Mrs. Fitzherbert were going to be reconciled. These rumours 
were, of course, without foundation. Mrs. Fitzherbert made 
no attempt to meet the King at any point. She was sixty-five, 
and she declared that her only wish was to end her days in peace 
and quietness; these, she knew from experience, could not be 
found in royal palaces. Deep down in her heart her love for 
the King still lingered, but his name never willingly crossed 
her lips. She had been so outraged, and so humiliated, that, 
whatever might have been her secret desire, her pride forbade 
that any overtures for reconciliation should come from her. 
If such a thought crossed the King's mind, and it may have 
done so, for when he spoke of her it was always with respect, 
he took no steps. Happy would it have been for him if his 
declining years had been comforted by the care and affection 
of the woman whom nearly forty years ago he had made his 
wife, and who had always put his interests before her own. 
Lady Conyngham, who was incapable of appreciating Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's reticence, persuaded herself that she was manoeu- 
vring to return to the King. She jealously guarded every avenue 
of approach to him, and did her best by hints and innuendoes 
to harm Mrs. Fitzherbert. She even strove to prejudice the 
King against Miss Seymour, for she feared she might be a 
means of communication between him and Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
In this respect she completely failed. But she seems to have 
prevented the King from seeing her; for after the Lady Steward's 
appointment. Miss Seymour never went to the entertainments at 
the Pavilion. This, however, may have been due to the fact 
that she was much abroad, sometimes with Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
but oftener with members of the Seymour family. We quote a 
letter written at this time : — 



THE LADY STEWARD 357 

Mrs. Fitzherhert to Miss Seymour at Brussels. 

"Sherwood Lodge, July 29, 1822. 
"Your letter, my dearest Minney, gave me the greatest 
pleasure imaginable, for what I suffered all Wednesday it is 
impossible to describe. The wind was so high and the river 
so agitated that I did nothing but run from the house to watch 
the tide all day, and I worked myself up to a state of anxiety 
scarcely to be borne. . . . Several people called on me that 
morning, among the rest, the Duke of York. He took your 
letter and gave it to the King, and stayed with him whilst he 
read it. The King was extremely delighted and pleased with 
it, and said to the Duke, 'This is a very kind letter indeed.' 
He asked him questions — how long you were to remain abroad 
and if, as he had been informed, I was going to join you, and 
pass the winter in Paris ? To all of this the Duke replied that 
he knew nothing. I am very glad you wrote; I think it will 
make the Marchioness very angry, and I trust it will convince 
the King that the stories told him respecting you were only her 
own fabrications. . . ." ^ 

In the autumn Mrs. Fitzherbert joined Miss Seymour in 
Paris, where they remained the winter, instead of going to 
Brighton as usual. This was probably to avoid the King and 
Lady Conyngham, who had come to the Pavihon in October, 
and prolonged their stay until the following April. Lady 
Conyngham was far from popular at Brighton, for Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert's absence was put down to her, and on more than one 
occasion, when she drove out, she was greeted with unmistakable 
signs of pubHc disapproval. The King saw and heard nothing 
of this, for he rarely went outside the Pavilion grounds. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert was back in London for the season of 
1823, and went out a great deal with Miss Seymour. The 
summer was spent as usual at Sherwood Lodge, and in Decem- 
ber Mrs. Fitzherbert returned to Brighton, where she was 

1 The above letter, and the others which follow in this volume, written by 
Mrs. Fitzherbert to Miss Seymour, afterwards Mrs. Dawson Damer, were lent 
to me for the purpose of this book. I have selected them from a mass of similar 
correspondence. Mrs. Fitzherbert was not a very good letter-writer, and the 
secret of her charm must be looked for elsewhere. As she once wrote to Mrs. 
Damer, "My pen and I are always at war." 



358 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

warmly welcomed. "The poor of Brighton, to whom Mrs. 
Fitzherbert is endeared by her benevolences, will have reason 
to rejoice at her return, and we hope she may make a protracted 
stay with us," ^ writes a local paper, and another declared: 
"In her the poor ever find a pitying and reheving friend." ^ 

Mrs. Fitzherbert to Miss Seymour at Hampton 
Court Palace. 

"Brighton, 
"Simday, December 14, 1823. 

"Your letter this morning, my dearest Minney, gave me 
much pleasure, for I am so unused to be at Brighton without 
you, that the sight of it quite revived me, particularly to hear 
that you are to come to me on Saturday [for Christmas]. Pray 
do not disappoint me. You will be welcomed here by more 
than myself, for I have given out that I shall not receive company 
until your Ladyship makes your appearance. There are several 
strangers here, who don't know what to do with themselves, 
and they will be very glad to have a lounging place for dinner 
and for the evening. But I am determined not to kill the 
fatted calf until you arrive, and if, as I hope, you will arrive on 
Saturday, I will have some company to meet you at dinner on 
Sunday. Therefore pray send me a line to say you will be 
with me on that day. 

"Brighton is so full that there is not a lodging to be had, 
and a great number of our acquaintances are here, including 
the Bedfords,^ who go to-morrow, and Lord Charlemont,^ who 
leaves the day after. You will laugh when I tell you that Lord 
and Lady Holland ^ came to visit me the day after I arrived. 
There is nothing gay going on, but I have promised to be very 
gay when you come. You will be dehghted at the great im- 
provements. The Chain Pier ^ is beautiful, and I have a 
delightful view of it from my windows. 

1 Brighton Gazette, December 18, 1823. 

2 Brighton Herald, January 24, 1824. 

3 John, sixth Duke of Bedford, and Georgiana his wife. 
" James, second Earl of Charlemont. 

5 Henry Richard, third Lord Holland, and Elizabeth, his wife, nee Vassal!. 
She married first. Sir Godfrey Webster, Bart., who divorced her for adultery 
with Lord Holland, whom she afterwards married. She was the Lady Holland, 
whose parties at Holland House were famous. 

"The Chain Pier had recently been opened (November 25, 1823). It was 
destroyed in a storm, December 4, 1896. 



THE LADY STEWARD 359 

"Everybody who could gain admission went to the King's 
Chapel this morning; the panel behind His Majesty took fire, 
and the congregation were nearly suffocated. Sparks of fire 
made their appearance in the chapel, but as His Majesty did 
not move, all the company sat quiet, frightened out of their 
wits, as none of them dared stir. After about three-quarters 
of an hour, when the fear of being burned had subsided, the 
windows were thrown open, and then people nearly died of the 
cold, but so far every one has escaped unhurt.^ The Duke of 
York and the Clarences are expected here on the 24th. The 
poor Duke has had a bad cold, but he writes me word that 
he is better. God bless you, my dear Minney; my best love to 
Mr. and Mrs. George.^ Let me have a few Hnes from you, 
and beheve me, always, truly and affectionately yours, 

"M. F.-H." 

Mrs. Fitzherbert was so delighted with her reception at 
Brighton that she determined to stay there more in the future. 
This decision did not commend itself to the Lady Steward, 
who regarded the proximity of Mrs. Fitzherbert to the Pavilion 
as a danger. Moreover, she hated the place, and she deter- 
mined to keep the King from Brighton as much as she could. 
She succeeded for a time, and Mrs. Fitzherbert was left in 
possession of the field. 

During the London season of 1824, Miss Seymour became 
engaged to Colonel George Dawson, second son of the Earl of 
Portarlington. Miss Seymour had received many offers of 
marriage — some of them highly advantageous — but she was 
determined to follow the promptings of her heart. Though she 
dreaded the prospect of parting from her adopted daughter, 
Mrs. Fitzherbert did everything to further her happiness. The 
marriage was not to take place for a year, but during the summer 
Mrs. Fitzherbert was already preparing for the event. First 
she sold her house at Sherwood Lodge to Lord Darnley for 
;^i 2,000, thus keeping only her houses in Tilney Street and at 
Brighton. Next, she had her niece, Mary (daughter of her 

1 The local papers do not appear to have chronicled this incident. 

2 Miss Seymour's eldest brother, Captain George Seymour, R.N. He 
married, 1811, Georgiana Mary, daughter of Admiral the Hon. G. C. Berkeley. 
He subsequently became Admiral Sir George Francis Seymour, G.C.B., and 
died 1870. His eldest son succeeded his cousin as fifth Marquess of Hertford. 



36o MRS. FITZHERBERT 

second brother, Mr. John Smythe, who had died a few years 
before), to stay with her, in the hope that she might in some 
degree fill the void in her life which would be caused by Miss 
Seymour's marriage. She was not in very good health during 
the summer, and we find her at Cheltenham, and also at Tun- 
bridge Wells. But she was back in Brighton by the end of 
September, "not only for the winter season, but with the intent 
of making this her chief place of abode in future." ^ She spent 
Christmas there with Miss Seymour and Miss Smythe, her 
"two children," as she called them. For their pleasure she 
gave a dance, which was one of the events of the Brighton 
season. We read: "On Tuesday night Mrs. Fitzherbert gave 
a splendid ball, with one of the most sumptuous suppers, that 
has taken place this season. The company was composed of 
all the Fashionables at present in Brighton. The rooms were 
elegantly decorated, and the supper-table was set forth with 
every kind of ornament — plateaux, vases, flowers, &c. There 
was also a most superb table of gold plate, and the most valuable 
china. The carriages began to set down at half-past eight 
o'clock, and continued to near one o'clock." ^ Mrs. Fitzherbert 
also gave card parties, dinner parties, evening parties without 
end, and her lavish hospitality added greatly to her popularity 
in Brighton. When she left in May for London to make 
preparations for Miss Seymour's marriage, there was loud 
lamentation.^ In Brighton, Mrs. Fitzherbert still was queen, 
and the local papers reported her comings and goings, and 
everything she did, as regularly as though they were her court 
circular. 

The marriage of Miss Seymour to Colonel Dawson took 
place in London on August 3, i82 5.V The King sent the bride 
a handsome present, and a letter in which he bade her "be 
always good to his dear old friend, Mrs. Fitzherbert," a recom- 
mendation which she did not need, but which the King needed 

.1 Brighton Gazette, September ii, 1824. 

2 Ibid., January 28, 1825. 

3 "May 12, 1825. Mrs. Fitzherbert, we regret to learn, leaves her Steine 
residence this day for Tilney Street. The absence of this lady is really a loss; 
for we know of no one who, to kindness of disposition, adds so great a share of 
consideration for the tradesman, and humanity and charity to the poor." — 
Brighton Gazette. 

* See note 2 on following page. 



THE LADY STEWARD 



361 



very much. Directly after the wedding, Mrs. Fitzherbert went 
to Buxton. Her heaUh was not good, and how deeply she felt 
the separation from her adopted daughter the following quota- 
tions from letters will show : — 



Mrs. Fitzherbert to the Hon. Mrs. Dawson^ 
Hampton Court Palace. 

"BtTXTON, August 7, 1825. 
"I will not revert to my parting with you. Dearest. The 
distress that occupied my mind at the idea of a separation from 
you affected me so much that I could not say half that I wanted 
to say to you, but ran out of the house as fast as I could, so as 
not to annoy you by my sufiferings. I am glad Hampton Court 
was made agreeable to you. ... I hope too, my dear Minney, 
you have written a proper letter to the King. If you have not 
already done so, pray do it. It is what he had a right to expect, 
and when you see Mr. Forster,^ I am sure he will be of my 
opinion." 

1 Mr. Forster was the King's solicitor, and one of Mrs. Fitzherbert's trustees. 
2 The Right Hon. Col. George = Mary Georgiana Emma, 



Lionel Dawson Damer, 

C. B. (1788-1856), 3rd 

son of George, ist Earl 

of Portarlington. 



dau. of Lord Hugh 
Seymour (i 798-1 848) 



(i) 

Georgiana Augusta 

Charlotte Caroline, 

m. 3rd Earl Fortescue, 

d. Dec. 8, 1866. 



(2) 
Lady Cecilia 
Blanche Horatia 
(raised with her sur- 
viving sisters by 
royal warrant, in 
March 1889, to the 
precedence of an 
Earl's daughter), m. 
1859 Lieut.-Col. 
Francis Haygarth, late 
Scots Fusilier Guards. 



(3) 
Lionel Seymour 
William, h. April 
7, 1832, succeeded 
his cousin, 3rd Earl 
of Portarlington, 
Mar. I, 1889, as 
4th Earl of Portar- 
lington, m. 1855 
Hon. Harriet Lydia 
Montagu, 2nd dau. 
of 3rd Lord Rokeby, 
d. 1802. 



I 

(4) 

Lady Evelyn Mary, 

m. 1855 Capt. Francis 

Sutton, late of R.H. 

Guards, d. Oct. 1899. 



(5) 
Lady Constance 

WiLHELMINA FrANCIS, 

m. 1856 Sir John Leslie, 
Bart., late of ist L. Guards. 



362 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

"Buxton, Sunday, August 21, 1825. 

"It is quite impossible, my dearest dear Minney, to express 
to you half of what my feehngs are at this moment. Your dear 
letters of Friday and Saturday I have received, and feel much 
gratified that at the moment you had so much to occupy you, 
you should think of me; though I cannot help feehng I do 
deserve it, from the very great and tender attachment I have 
ever felt for you since your birth. No mother, I am certain, 
ever loved her own child more dearly than I have loved you. 
I pray to God from morning to night that your happiness may 
be as complete as I wish, and as you deserve. Mr. Dawson 
will, I trust, do all in his power to render you happy. I would 
wish very much to see you before you go abroad, but I do not 
know how to manage it, for I am at such a distance from you. 
In the state of mind I am in at this moment I should Hke to 
set out directly and visit you, but, alas! I am far from well. 
Still I think we might meet half-way from this place, and pass 
a few hours together, but I do not know exactly what your 
plans are until I hear from you again. This is an odious place, 
and I would not have you think of coming here on any pretext 
whatever. 

"I am so nervous that I am unable to write more. You 
shall hear from me again, when I am more composed; I can 
only add — May Heaven bless and protect you, my dearest 
child; it is the constant wish and prayer of your very affectionate 

"M. F.-H." 

What Colonel Dawson's sentiments were, is shown from 
the following letter he wrote to Mrs. Fitzherbert a few days 
later: — 

"For myself, my dear Madam, allow me to return you my 
warm thanks for your kind expressions respecting me. I trust 
I am fully aware of my good fortune, and of the treasure which 
Providence has bestowed on me. I pray you to be confident 
that I am quite conscious of that indissoluble bond of affection 
which unites you and my wife, and I would wish to prove to 
you that my most ardent hopes are that I shall not only be able 
to make her happy, but also, if it is in my power, to contribute 
to your comfort by every act of my future hfe, and thus showing 
you that I am not quite unv/orthy of being so blessed." 




THE HON. MRS. DAWSON DAMER 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's Adopted Daughter 

{From the Miniatw-e by ISABEY. Photo by Mr. W. B. Boultos. 
^y/er^wmzwz ^ Lady Constance Leslie) 



THE LADY STEWARD 363 

This promise Colonel Dawson fulfilled to Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
great comfort and satisfaction, and she became much attached 
to him. But at first she felt her loss deeply. Then, as always, 
Mrs. Fitzherbert was fortunate in her friends; many of them, 
sympathising with her in her loneliness, entreated her to visit 
them. She accepted some of their invitations, for she could 
not bear the thought of going back to her empty home. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert to the Hon. Mrs. Dawson, 
Tilney Street. 

"Buxton, 
'^Saturday morning, September 1825. 

"My dearest Minney, — The Duke of Devonshire ^ came 
over to visit me here a few days ago, and wanted me to go to 
Chatsworth immediately, as he was going on the 13th to Don- 
caster Races. Not being well, besides being engaged to go to 
Hooton, I excused myself, but he insisted on my going to make 
him a visit on my return (which will be on the 24th), and I 
have agreed to do so. ... I had a letter yesterday from the 
Duke of York, just as he was setting out for Brighton. I do 
not think he knew you were in town or he would have called 
upon you. You have no idea of the talk at this place of his 
being shut up in an absolute ale-house upon the Moors, with the 
party he visited, and of the extraordinary things that occurred, 
some very laughable and amusing; but as I have a very real 
and sincere regard and affection for the Duke I feel very 
sorry and hurt at all the absurdities and ridicule their con- 
duct has occasioned. I hear they are all to meet at Lord Hert- 
ford's 

"I feel very jealous of what you write with regard to poor 
old Forster. I always thought that I was a great favourite, 
but I fear you have superseded me. He is an excellent person, 
and I have a very sincere regard for him. I forget what I 
wrote in the postscript he showed to the King. I know from 
the Duke of York I am in high favour with his Majesty. I 
don't know for what!" 

Shortly after this Mrs. Fitzherbert left Buxton on a visit to 

1 William Spencer, sixth Duke of Devonshire (1790-1858), unmarried. 



364 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Hooton, near Chester, the seat of Sir Thomas Stanley/ who 
had married Mrs. Fitzherbert's niece Mary, daughter of Sir 
Carnaby and Lady Haggerston. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert to the Hon. Mrs. Dawson, Paris- 

" Hooton, October 3, 1825. 
"I have stayed at this place longer than I intended; I have 
been so comfortable that I felt I could not be better off. I have 
had very kind invitations from the Cholmondeleys,^ and also 
from the Seftons,^ but as I had written to the Duke of Devon- 
shire to fix being at Chatsworth on the 8th, I was under the 
necessity of sending them my excuses, particularly as I had 
been obliged to put off going to Chatsworth twice from indis- 
position. I should like very much to have gone to the Seftons. 
I went the other day to Lord Grosvenor's,* who gave us a fine 
lunch; the house is the most magnificent thing I ever saw. 
Lady Elizabeth Belgrave ^ inquired most kindly after you, and 
desired me to send a thousand loves. She expects every day 
to be confined^ and is most anxious to have a son." ^ 

"Chatsworth, October 17, 1825. 
"I cannot tell you, dearest Minney, the delight I felt when 
tho. Duke [of Devonshire] gave me a letter from you dated 
from Nantes; he said it was addressed in your handwriting, 
and he knew it would make me happy. No one could be 
kinder than he has been to me; we often talk of you, and he 

1 Sir Thomas Stanley, ninth Baronet, married Mary, only daughter and 
heiress of Sir Carnaby Haggerston, Bart. Their second son, Roland, who 
succeeded his brother. Sir William Stanley, tenth Baronet, as eleventh Baronet, 
assumed by royal licence, in 1820 (pursuant to the will of Henry Errington, 
Esq., of Sandhoe and Red Rice, Hants), the surname of Errington. 

2 The second Marquess and Marchioness of Cholmondeley, at Cholmon- 
deley Castle, Nantwicli. 

3 The second Earl and Countess of Sefton, Croxteth Park, Liverpool. Mrs. 
Fitzherbert was connected through the Stanleys and the Erringtons with the 
Seftons. 

* Robert, second Earl Grosvenor, created 1831 first Marquess of Westminster 
(1767-1845). 

5 Lady Elizabeth Mary, youngest daughter of the first Duke of Sutherland, 
married 1819 Viscount Belgrave, afterwards second Marquess of Westminster. 

6 The son was born, October 13, 1825. He was Hugh Lupus, third Marquess 
and first Duke of Westminster, died 1800. 



THE LADY STEWARD 365 

has had letters from Lord Granville ^ full of your praises. 
The Duke seemed very much pleased at your having bought 
so many French hats, &c.; he is greatly occupied with ladies' 
dresses; he says you dress remarkably well, and that at one of 
his parties you desired him to admire a gown you had on; he 
said it was certainly very pretty, but that it was an old one, he 
had seen you in it before. He expects everybody to be dressed 
here as if going to a ball, and looks rather shy if you have not 
a fresh gown for every day. This is rather a bore to me, for 
I hate the trouble of dressing up, and in this particular I am 
afraid I don't stand very high in his estimation. 

"I meant to have gone away two days ago, but I caught a 
violent cold, which has confined me to my bed, but I am so 
much better that I intend going to-morrow to Mr. Fitzherbert's,^ 
and thence to Trentham ^ for a day or two. After that, as the 
weather is getting cold, I shall make no more visits, but return 
the end of the month to Tilney Street. 

"I am very much pleased you are so dehghted with your 
tour; I am told the road from Genoa to Rome is beautiful. 
When once you are settled there I shall begin to count the 
weeks and the days until you will return. Indeed, indeed, my 
dearest Minney, when I get out of spirits, which I very often 
do, the only thing I look forward to with any pleasure is the 
thought of once more embracing you, my dear child, and I 
constantly pray to God to spare my hfe that I may be blessed 
with the sight of you again, and that I may see you settled 
somewhere or other in a house of your own, and as happy and 
as comfortable as I wish you to be. But I am getting into the 
dismals, so I shall say no more on the subject. 

" Gurwood * wrote me a long letter the other day. He came 
over with despatches . . . and is gone back to take up his 
residence at Paris. He offers to come over and escort me to 
Paris whenever I have a wish to go there. The Hollands have 

1 The first Earl Granville (i 773-1846), then Viscount Granville, Ambassador 
at Paris. 

2 Mr. Thomas Fitzherbert, nephew of her second husband, at Swynnerton, 
Staffordshire. 

3 Trentham Hall, Stoke-on-Trent. The Marquess of Stafford's. 

^ Colonel John Gurwood, C.B. (1790-1845), Deputy Lieutenant of the 
Tower, private secretary of the Duke of Wellington, and editor of the "Welling- 
ton Despatches." 



366 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

played the same trick with the Granthams they did with me 
some years ago at Chehenham; they having taken possession 
of the premiere at Meurice's Hotel which was promised to the 
Granthams, and Lady Holland says nothing shall make her 
give it up. In consequence of this, the Granthams have re- 
turned to the Isle of Wight until they can hear of something 
to suit them. ^ Really that woman is a plague to everybody ! 

"I have written a sad scrawl, but the number of people that 
are running in and out of my room quite distract me. Adieu, 
my dearest; may every blessing attend you, prays ever your 
affectionate ,,^ F -H " 

"TiLNEY Street, November 7, 1825. 
"I arrived here the day before yesterday, rather glad to get 
to my fireside before the very bad weather set in. I have been 
a sad rambler. After I left Chatsworth, I went to the Fitz- 
herberts' and thence to Trentham, where I met the whole 
family. Lady Stafford ^ was constantly lamenting you were 
not her daughter-in-law; there is nothing they wished for so 
much as to have had you Lady Francis.^ I ought to be, and 
indeed am, very much pleased with my tour. It is quite im- 
possible to tell you all the kind attentions and courtesies I have 
received from everybody." 

1 Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland (in her own right), married George 
Granville, second Marquess of Stafford, who was created in 1833 first Duke of 
Sutherland. 

- Lord Francis Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, who wished to marry Miss 
Seymour, was the second son of the first Duke of Sutherland, and was later 
created first Earl of Ellesmere. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

IN THE GREY OF LIFE 

(1825-1829) 

The next few years of Mrs. Fitzherbert's life, the years that 
followed the marriage of her adopted daughter, were uneventful. 
With the King she had no communication whatever, either 
directly or indirectly, and she lived wholly apart from the 
world of pohtics. She had now reached the age of threescore 
and ten years, and though her days yet were by no means all 
"labour and sorrow," she had her share of suffering and grief. 
Her strength was slowly failing, and one by one her friends 
were passing away. Despite the fact that her niece, Miss 
Smythe, to whom she was much attached, was living with her, 
she felt very much alone. 

To add to her worries the controversy on The Subject, as 
she called it (her marriage with the Prince of Wales, now 
George IV.), was revived by the publication of Moore's "Life 
of Sheridan," and Sir Wilham Knighton, the King's private 
secretary, was going about everywhere denying that the mar- 
riage had ever taken place, and whispering calumnies against 
Mrs. Fitzherbert. John Wilson Croker was also called into 
conference, probably to deal with the matter in the press. 
Croker, who was a creature of Lord Hertford's, was strongly 
prejudiced against Mrs. Fitzherbert, and did everything in his 
power to harm her positon. The King was very intimate with 
him at this time. He called him "Croko," and had long and 
intimate conversations with him on divers subjects. On one 
of these occasions (if we may believe Croker, for there is no 
other evidence) the King entered on the subject of his "sup- 
posed marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert," and declared that there 
was no truth in "that absurd story of my supposed marriage." ^ 

1 Croker, op. cit. 
367 



368 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

We cannot accept this statement of Croker's without hesitation; 
but if the King did say so, it may be classed with the other 
hallucinations which beset him at this time. His power of 
self-deception was so great that he talked himself into believing 
that he was at the battle of Waterloo, and even appealed to the 
Duke of Welhngton to verify the statement. "I have heard 
your Majesty say so before," rephed the Duke drily. If, 
therefore, George IV. persuaded himself that he had been 
present at Waterloo, it is quite possible that he also persuaded 
himself that he had not been present at his own marriage with 
Mrs. Fitzherbert. And we may be sure that Croker did not 
seek to disillusion him, but adroitly fell in with the mood of 
his royal master. Be this as it may, it is certain the press at 
this time teemed with references to Mrs. Fitzherbert and her 
"supposed marriage," and many scandalous hints and innuen- 
does which annoyed her greatly. She had all the documents 
necessary to prove her marriage in her possession, and with a 
word she could have silenced her calumniators. But that word 
was not spoken, and in none of her letters does she make the 
slightest allusion to these annoyances. But she felt the cruelty 
of- it deeply, and nearly all her letters at this time are tinged 
with melancholy. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert to the Hon. Mrs. Dawson. 

"TiLNEY Street, November 15, 1825. 
"How very kind of you, Dearest, to think of me, and of 
all my sufferings at Nice. Your search after the tomb ^ must 
have been fruitless; it is in one of the chapels I purchased, in a 
church, and I conclude there could have been no one at Nice 
who could recollect me at such a distance of time since the 
event took place. But your thinking of it pleased and gratified 
me. . . . The Duke of York stayed with me all yesterday 
evening in high good humour. He has come to stay a month 
in town, and then I suppose he will go his round of visits, to 
Bel voir, &c." 

' The tomb of Mr. Fitzherbert, Mrs. Fitzherbert's second husband, who 
died at Nice. 



IN THE GREY OF LIFE 369 

"TiLNEY Street, November 30, 1825. 

"The Duchess of Rutland died on Thursday.^ It is said 
she was not ailing for more than two days. Henry Halford 
was sent for express to Bel voir, but arrived too late. My poor 
friend, the Duke [of York] is very much shocked and grieved. 
I have seen a great deal of him since I came to town. He came 
to call on me the day after the event had taken place, and was 
very much affected by it. He has such a kind heart, and they 
were such dear friends, that I like him better for the feeling he 
shows on this occasion." 



Mrs. Fitzherbert remained in London throughout the winter 
of 1825-26. She was ill with rheumatism and asthma, and for 
two or three months was confined to her house in Tilney Street. 
At one time considerable anxiety was felt for her, on account 
of her age, but her fine constitution stood her in good stead, 
and when the summer came she rallied. In the autumn she 
went to Bath. She writes from there to Mrs. Dawson: — 

"Bath, October 30, 1826. 
"I have nothing to tell you. Dearest, for we are as dull and 
stupid as possible. There is scarcely a creature I know here 
except some old Fograms, whose company I would rather be 
without. People have made such melancholy histories about 
the poor Duke [of York] that I began to be quite unhappy, but 
I was fortunate enough to get a letter from him on Friday, 
written in very good spirits, and telling me he was much better, 
and that his medical adviser assured him he was so, and that 
he felt stronger, and seemed comfortable in every respect. 
This makes me quite easy. I trust in God he may continue so." 

During the autumn the Duke of York grew worse, and was 
reported to be in great danger. Mrs. Fitzherbert was worried 
and anxious about him, as the following letter, which she wrote 
to his physician,^ shows : — 

1 Elizabeth, Duchess of Rutland, daughter of fifth Earl of Carlisle, married 
the fifth Duke of Rutland; died November 29, 1825. 

2 Sir Henry Halford, Bart. (1766-1844), confidential physician to the King 
and other members of the royal family. 



370 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Mrs. Fitzherhert to Sir Henry Halford, 
Bart., M.D. 

"Your letter, my dear Sir Henry, has grieved me to the' 
heart; the account of the poor Duke is sad, very sad. I have 
long thought his case deplorable, but now I begin to quite 
despair, and to feel that there is no chance of his recovery. 
Alas! what a loss the country, his family, and his friends will 
sustain. I am sure none will feel or lament it more than I shall. 

"The account of his having gone through the operation was 
publicly talked of here the day after it took place. I mention 
this for fear you should suppose I had communicated the con- 
tents of your letter, not one syllable of which ever passed my 
lips. I begin to think there is no such thing as a secret in the 
world. 

"What shall I say, or how can I express my thanks — my 
gratitude to you for the trouble you have been so kind, so 
generous as to take with regard to my papers? You have no 
idea of the weight of anxiety and uneasiness you have removed 
from my mind. For I don't think I should have had a moment's 
peace or tranquillity had those papers fallen into the hands of 
those who on a former occasion made such mischief, and so 
many disagreeable scenes and confusion. I really do not know 
what I should have done; it would have made me miserable. 

"You are very kind in inquiring after me. The waters 
certainly have done me a great deal of good, but I am sadly 
tormented with headaches, partly rheumatism. My head at 
this moment is so confused that I scarcely know what I am 
about. If you should have a moment to spare, and will give 
me a line to tell me how the Duke goes on, you will do me a 
great favour, for I cannot tell you the anxiety I feel about him. 
God bless you, my dear and kind friend, for as such I must 
ever esteem you; and with every good wish to you, believe me 
always, your very sincere and truly grateful 

"M. F.-H."i 

It will be seen from the above that Mrs. Fitzherbert's anxiety 
was not only on account of the Duke of York, but also concern- 

1 This letter is published in the "Life of Sir Henry Halford," by William 
Munk, M.D. London, 1895. 



IN THE GREY OF LIFE 371 

ing the letters which she had written him. They had been in 
constant correspondence for over thirty years, writing quite 
freely to one another, both on private affairs and public events. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert kept all the Duke's letters, all the King's 
letters, and all the documents relating to her marriage in a 
box, and carried them about with her wherever she went, 
keeping them always in her bedroom. On one occasion, shortly 
after the accession of George IV., these papers nearly fell into 
the possession of Sir William Knighton, the King's private 
secretary, who was at that time in league with Lady Conyngham. 
Knighton determined to get hold of them by fair means or foul. 
One day when the court was at Brighton, he called at Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's house on the pretext of inquiring after her health. 
She was ill in bed, and sent word she was unable to receive him. 
Nothing daunted, he forced his way into her bedroom, to the 
great alarm and agitation of the poor old lady, who knew what 
he was in search of. However, his quest was not successful.^ 
Shortly after this "domiciliary visit "^ Mrs. Fitzherbert took 
care to remove her papers to a place of safety. Knighton's 
audacious attempt led her to think that her correspondence 
with the Duke of York at least should be destroyed. She sent 
all the Duke's letters back to him, with the exception of a few 
brief notes of no importance (such as those quoted in this book), 
and the Duke returned her letters to her. Lord Stourton gives 
the following account of the fate of this correspondence : ■ — 

"Previously to the death of the Duke of York, they agreed 
on both sides that all their correspondence should be destroyed; 
and she assured me that when Sir Herbert Taylor ^ gave her 
up her own correspondence, she was for two years employed in 
the perusal and burning of these most interesting letters. When 
Sir Herbert Taylor surrendered them to her in person, she told 
him that she had been almost afraid that they * would have got 
these papers from him. He replied 'not all the kings upon 
earth should have obtained them.' She added, that had she 
entertained mercenary views, she beheved she might have ob- 

1 Sir William Knighton, Bart. (1776- 1836), private secretary to George IV. 
(originally a surgeon). 

2 Vide Greville's "Memoirs." 

^General Sir Herbert Taylor, G.C.B. (1775-1839), private secretary to the 
Duke of York. 

'' George IV. and Sir William Knighton. 



372 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

tained any price she had chosen to ask for the correspondence, 
which it was in her power to have laid before the pubhc; that 
she could have given the best private and pubHc history of all 
the transactions of the country, from the close of the American 
War down to the death of the Duke of York, either from her 
communications with the Duke, or from her own connections 
with the opposite party, through the Prince and friends." ^ 

The Duke of York died on January 5, 1827, in the sixty- 
fourth year of his age.^ His death left his next brother, the 
Duke of Clarence, heir-presumptive to the throne. The Duke 
of York had long struggled against a painful illness, and during 
the last months of his life his sufferings were agonising, but he 
bore them with fortitude, and continued until nearly the end to 
discharge his duties as Commander-in-Chief. The Duke took 
Httle part in politics, but during the last year or two of his life, 
he had come forward as "the Royal Protestant champion," and 
the strenuous opponent of Catholic Emancipation. The Duke 
had his faihngs, but he had also sterling good qualities. In 
public life he was sincerely devoted to his country; in private 
life he was a true friend. He was the most popular of all the 
royal brothers. Greville, who was not given to flattering 
princes, wrote of him, "He is the only one of the Princes who 
has the feelings of an English gentleman. His amiable dispo- 
sition and excellent temper have conciliated for him the esteem 
and regard of men of all parties, and he has endeared himself 
to his friends by the warmth and steadiness of his attachments, 
and through the implicit confidence they have in his truth, 
straightforwardness, and sincerity." ^ 

No one could testify to the sincerity of his friendship more 
than Mrs. Fitzherbert. In the death of the Duke of York she 
had lost her best friend, and one who stood on the very steps 
of the throne, her advocate and mediator with the King. 
Friendly as were her relations with all the royal brothers (except 
the Duke of Cumberland), the Duke of York was the first of 
all. Nothing shook their friendship, not family ties, not the, 
dislike of the Duchess, nor the opposition of the Duke to Roman 
CathoHc Emancipation. There is httle doubt that, had the 

1 Langdale's "Memoirs," pp. 142-43. 

2 The Duchess of York had predeceased him in 1820. 

3 "Greville Memoirs." 



r 



IN THE GREY OF LIFE 



37^ 



Duke of York lived to succeed George IV., Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert's character would have been vindicated in the eyes of 
the world, by the public acknowledgment of the jact of her 
marriage. She would have been content to leave her cause in 
his hands. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert spent Christmas in Bath, and she did not 
return to Brighton until the middle of January 1827. She re- 
mained there until May,^ but in consequence of the Duke of 
York's death she gave no entertainments, and had no visitors 
except Mrs. Dawson. The King was also at Brighton. He 
arrived there a fortnight after the Duke's death, and at first 
saw no one, though after a few weeks the music was resumed. 
He was very ill with gout, but the only answer given to callers 
was, "The King is well." It was a melancholy winter. 

On March 7, 1827, George IV. left Brighton for the last 
time, and his Pavilion, the scene of so many early associations 
and pleasant memories, saw him no more. It was his intention 
to return, but Lady Conyngham prevented him. During the 
visit some one had written with a diamond on a window at the 
Pavilion some lines reflecting severely on the Lady Steward. 
This, combined with the fact that she was hooted in the streets, 
made her vow that she would never go to Brighton again, or 
suffer the King to return. She kept her word. The following 
letter of Mrs. Fitzherbert was written at this time : — 

Mrs. Fitzherhert to the Hon. Mrs. George Dawson. 

"Brighton, March 5, 1827. 
"You will be surprised to hear that his Majesty has given 
orders for his departure on Wednesday or Thursday next. 
This I understood has surprised the Household very much, and 
report says there is some misunderstanding, but I believe they 
are all going on as usual. Madam Lieven ^ goes either to-day 
or to-morrow; she was walking the other day with Lady Mary 

1 "Mrs. Fitzherbert, accompanied by Miss Smythe, visited our Fair on 
Ireland's Cricketing Ground on Monday last and made several purchases. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert enjoys the best of health, and her countenance still retains 
all its sweetness, and no inconsiderable portion of its former beauty." — 
Brighton Gazette, May lo, 1827. 

2 The Princess Lieven, Russian Ambassadress, who was a great friend of 
the Duke of Cumberland. 



374 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Hill/ who mentioned something about Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
Madam Lieven said she had no acquaintance with her. What 
do you think of that? It is really very entertaining, her way 

of going on!" 

"Brighton, March 15, 1S27. 

"I have just received a letter from Rush, the poor Duke of 
York's steward, to offer me to purchase some lamps I gave the 
Duke some years ago. It would make me quite unhappy to 
have them back again, and would bring all sorts of uncomfort- 
able facts to my recollection. I would therefore beg George 
to be good enough to see Rush, to thank him from me for his 
attention, but to say that I must decline taking them, particu- 
larly as I have written to a friend to purchase me something the 
Duke was in the habit of using. It would be more precious to 
me than anything else." 

At this time, in consequence of a difference between the 
King and Lady Conyngham, there was a revival of the rumours 
(which were periodical) that a reconciliation was likely to be 
effected between the King and Mrs. Fitzherbert. These ru- 
mours seem to have reached the ears of Mrs. Dawson, who 
must have ralhed the old lady on the subject, for in her next 
letter she writes: "What can you and Louisa^ mean by your 
jokes and insinuations about the Pavilion? I think you have 
both lost your senses upon that subject. It is, I assure you, 
quite news to me, nor can I account for what has given rise to 
such foolish reports." ^ 

To the Hon. Mrs. Dawson Darner,^ Paris. 

"TiLNEY Street, Sunday, October 10, 1827. 
"The Duke of Sussex was with me yesterday. He is going 
a long tour of visits. The King, the day he went to the Queen 
of Wurtemburg's birthday ^ at St. James's, announced to his 

1 Mary, youngest daughter of the second Marquess of Downshire, died 
unmarried 1830. 

2 Miss Louisa Smythe, daughter of Mrs. Fitzherbert's eldest brother, Mr. 
Walter Smythe. s Brighton, March 18, 1827. 

^ Colonel Dawson had now added the name of Darner to his own, in accord- 
ance with the will of his aunt, Lady Caroline Damer, who died in 1826. 

^ Charlotte Augusta Matilda, Princess Royal of Great Britain, Queen of 
Wurtemburg, born September 29, 1766. She died in 1828, the following year. 




H 



^ 



IN THE GREY OF LIFE 375 

Family that he was going to pull down the entire palace of St, 
James's, and Marlborough House too; and as Prince Leopold 
has the latter only for nine years to come, he should pay him 
;;^30oo per annum for turning him out — ;;^iooo less than he 
pays rent for it now! People are all in amazement at these 
proceedings. It is also said that the King is to reside at Devon- 
shire House this winter, in consequence of the alterations he is 
making at the Cottage at Windsor. What will he do next?" 

"TiLNEY Street, November — , 1827. 
"I imagine, dearest Minney, that you will receive this on 
the 23rd [Mrs. Damer's birthday]. I wish I were with you to 
express to you in person all I feel upon the occasion, and how 
sincerely, and from the bottom of my heart, I wish you, my 
dear Child, many happy returns of the day, with everything you 
wish for or desire. You talk of old age — think what I am 
[seventy-one]. I assure you I should be very sorry to have to 
pass my youthful days over again. It is a great consolation, at 
my advanced age, to have those I love the most (yourself and 
Mary,^ my two children) both well and happy, and to receive 
from them kindness and affection, and to end my days in peace 
and quietness." 

"Brighton, November 29, 1827. 

"Here 1 am with all England at Brighton; there never were 
so many people of Fashion here before, and my house has been 
like a Fair all day yesterday, and to-day. But I shall not be 
comfortable, my dearest Minney, until I get you and George 
here. It is the only thing I have to look forward to with pleas- 
ure. . . . The day before I left town I was with Princess 
Sophia ^ for an hour and a half. She spoke very kindly of you. 
She said she was quite sure Lady C[onyngham] had done what 
she told them all she intended to do, and that the King said he 
was very happy at it. Henry Halford assured me that he was 
now quite well; he had been ill with the gout, and had lost a 
good deal of his size, by Halford's making him live very abste- 
miously, but he was the better for it." 

1 Her niece, Mary, daughter of Mr. John Smythe. 

2 Princess Sophia of Gloucester, daughter of the Duke of Gloucester, who 
married the Dowager-Countess Waldegrave. The Princess Sophia was there- 
fore step-sister to Mrs. Dawson Damer's mother, Lady Horatia Seymour. 



376 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

"Brighton, Monday, December 3, 1827. 
''The appointment of Sumner^ to the Bishoprick of Win- 
chester makes a great talk, and brings forth abuse from all 
quarters. From what I hear it will be a very stormy session — 
everybody is dissatisfied. I hope all your riots in Paris are at 
.an end. The Hollands are still here, and nothing can be more 
civil and kind than they are to me, sending me game and all 
sorts of good things. You know how I have dreaded their 
dining with me. The other day the Duke of Bedford dined 
with me, and I mentioned to him my fear of inviting her. He 
said she had constantly refused dining with him, but that I was 
in such favour, that he dared say she would dine with me. 
Poor thing, she is very unwell, and there the thing rests for the 
present. Lord Egremont ^ and all his tribe are here. . . . 
George Brummel ^ is to be made Consul at Calais. The King 
has given his consent. I think he has great merit, after all 
that has passed. Some people are more partial to their enemies 
than kind to their friends!" 

Mrs. Fitzherbert remained in London all the winter. During 
the spring (1828) Mrs. Fitzherbert's niece. Miss Smythe, who 
had lived with her since Mrs. Damer's marriage, became en- 
gaged to Captain Edward Stafford Jerningham,* second son of 
Lord Stafford. Mrs. Fitzherbert was delighted with the en- 
gagement of her niece to one of her own faith, and a member 
of a family whom she held in great esteem. In the summer she 

1 Charles Richard Sumner (1790-18 74), Bishop of Winchester. Sumner 
was for some time tutor to Lord Francis Conyngham, and was in great favour 
with Lady Conyngham and George IV. He was successively appointed 
Librarian at Carlton House, Vicar of St. Helen's, Abingdon, Canon of 
Worcester, Bishop of Llandaff, and, in November 1827, Bishop of Winchester. 

2 George O'Brien Wyndham, third and last Earl of Egremont (1751-1837). 
He was a very wealthy peer, given to princely hospitality, a patron of the arts 
and of the turf. The "tribe" was composed of nine illegitimate children. 

3 George Bryan Brummel (1778-1840), the celebrated "Beau Brummel"; 
he was then living at Calais, but Mrs. Fitzherbert was incorrect. He was 
never Consul at Calais, but was appointed Consul at Caen in 1830. 

* Hon. Edward Jerningham (second son of Lord Stafford), 1804-1828, 
m. June 1828 Mary Anne Smythe (niece of Mrs. Fitzherbert). 



Augustus, Henry, Emily Charlotte, 

Lord Stafford. present Lord Stafford. m. Basil Fitzherbert 

of Swynnerton. 



IN THE GREY OF LIFE 377 

paid a visit to Costessy, Lord Stafford's place, and the marriage 
took place soon after. 

Later Mrs. Fitzherbert went to Paris on a visit to the 
Darners, and she brought them back with her to London; 
in the autumn she went to Brighton for the winter. The 
Jerninghams spent Christmas with her, and the Damers came 
for the New Year (1829). During their visit, Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert gave a fancy dress ball, which is thus described in a local 
paper: — 

"Mrs. Fitzherbert's grand Fancy Dress Ball was not only 
the most splendid party given during the present season, but 
the most splendid probably ever seen in Brighton. There were 
more than two hundred present, including all the Fashionables 
now residing in the town. No magnificence can be conceived 
greater than that displayed in the various dresses, which were" 
exceedingly rich; but they differed in one essential respect from 
the Fancy Balls which have before taken place here, there being 
a greater proportion of Court dresses and uniforms. The fine 
rooms of the noble mansion, thus Hghted up, presented a most 
brilhant and dazzHng appearance; and on the supper table 
every dehcacy was seen in profusion. Kirchner's excellent 
quadrille band was in attendance. It always affords us great 
pleasure when we have to notice such magnificent fetes as this, 
since independently of the immediate gratification afforded, the 
town is materially advanced by such acts of hospitahty and 
munificence. We do hope that Mrs. Fitzherbert may long 
enjoy health to promote the prosperity of the town. 

"Among those present were Lord Granville, who was 
dressed in Windsor uniform; Lord Shaftesbury, Lord and Lady 
Templetown, the Marchioness of Bristol, the Ladies Hervey, 
the Countess of Lindsey, Lady C. Stewart, and Lord Por- 
chester, all of whom wore very rich dresses. Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
who, we are happy to say, looked in excellent health and spirits, 
wore a rich dress of white satin trimmed with blonde, and a 
white dress hat; Hon. Mrs. Dawson Damer, a handsome black 
fancy dress, head-dress of diamonds; Hon. Mrs. Jerningham, 
a black velvet dress, with a richly ornamented stomacher; Hon. 
Miss Jerningham, an elegant Grecian dress composed of tulle, 
ornamented with gold roses, head-dress of gold and roses; Miss 
Smythe, a beautiful Turkish dress, with handsome turban of 



378 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

scarlet and gold, and a profusion of diamonds; Miss C. Smythe 
looked most lovely in a simple white fancy dress, with a veil 
confined with a chaplet of white roses; Lady Charlotte Bertie, 
a rich and elegant Turkish dress, composed of graceful draperies 
of mushn and gold; Lady Emily Butler, 'Mary Queen of Scots'; 
Lady Ellenborough, 'Queen Elizabeth'; Miss Courtney Boyle, 
'the widow of Ali Pacha'; Miss G. Courtney Boyle, 'Ariel' 
(this had a very singular and fanciful appearance); Lady Scott 
in the costume of 'A Lady of the Court of Ehzabeth,' a rich 
dress composed of satin and pearls, head-dress of silver and 
pearls; Lady Falkiner, a rich Turkish dress of black and gold, 
garniture of gold flowers and satin, head-dress and stomacher 
brilhantly ornamented with diamonds; Lady Susan Hotham, 
in a Swiss costume, body of black velvet and petticoat of black 
silk with cherry-coloured rouleaux, a fancy hat of chip, trimmed 
with artificial flowers; Mrs. Montefiore, 'Queen Ehzabeth,' a 
superb dress of gold lama, and white satin stomacher richly 
studded with jewels, and a head-dress of diamonds; Lady 
Coutts, a Spanish costume; Lady Beresford as a Sultana, and 
Lord Beresford as a Turkish Sultan; Countess St. Antonio, as 
'the Goddess of Music'; Lady Gibbes, a Parisian costume. 
Many young ladies as Circassians and Swiss. A great number 
of the Officers of the Life Guards, Blues, and other Regiments, 
besides many Officers of the Navy and others in fancy dress 
and uniforms." ^ 

Mrs. Fitzherbert went to Tilney Street in June, where she 
remained throughout the season. In good health and spirits, 
she returned to Brighton in September (1829); but as her house 
on the Steine was being repaired and re-decorated, she stayed 
at the Royal York Hotel. While she was there, the Duke and 
Duchess of Clarence arrived at Brighton from Dieppe, and 
landed at the Chain Pier. The Duke and Duchess did not 
land until dusk, and they were received by the Municipality 
bearing lanterns, and the pier was illuminated. The Duke and 
Duchess walked through an immense crowd to the Royal York 
Hotel, escorted by marines, and were received at the door by 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, the Marchioness of Downshire, and Lady 
Mary Hill. This was the first presentation of Mrs. Fitzherbert 

1 Brighton Gazette, January 14, 1829. 



IN THE GREY OF LIFE 379 

to the Duchess of Clarence, who received her with great kind- 
ness and cordiahty, and remained her friend the rest of her hfe. 
As to the Duke of Clarence, he had been much attached to 
Mrs. Fitzherbert for years, and always treated her as one of 
the family. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

THE DEATH OF THE KING 
(1829-1830) 

A CAUSE of right and justice in which Mrs. Fitzherbert had 
long been interested won a great victory this year (1829). 
Roman CathoHc Emancipation passed into law. The election 
of that doughty champion of Roman CathoHc claims, Daniel 
O'Connell, for county Clare the previous year, forced the matter 
to a crisis, and Emancipation came with a rush into the fore- 
front of politics. The Duke of Welhngton, Peel, and other 
members of the Government, saw that it was impossible any 
longer to withhold this measure of justice, and prepared to 
yield to public opinion. But the King was violently hostile to 
the Catholic claims, and his hostility was inflamed by the Duke 
of Cumberland and Lady Conyngham. To Peel, who had 
submitted a memorandum on the subject, the King sent the 
following answer: "The sentiments of the King upon CathoHc 
Emancipation are those of his revered and excellent father. 
From those sentiments the King never can, and never will, 
deviate." But the King's protest was of no avail. Loyal 
Roman Catholics had made every allowance for the conscien- 
tious, if mistaken, objections of George III., but they absolutely 
refused to extend the same indulgence to George IV., whom 
they regarded as a man of no principle. The Duke of Welling- 
ton, Peel, and other Ministers agreed in refusing to consider 
seriously the King's appeals to his conscience. So the King, 
after much shuffling, and with great reluctance, had to give 
way, and in his speech to Parliament on opening the session of 
1829 announced a measure of relief. 

The King, though yielding, was by no means vanquished. 
He intrigued with the Duke of Cumberland against his own 
Ministers. The Duke of Cumberland's interference led to a 
scene in the House of Lords, when the Dukes of Clarence and 
Sussex, who supported the Roman Catholic claims, attacked 

380 



THE DEATH OF THE KING 381 

the Duke of Cumberland, and described his conduct as "in- 
famous." Peel introduced a Roman Cathohc Rehef Bill, and 
the measure passed through both Houses by considerable 
majorities. By this measure a different form of oath was 
substituted for the oath of supremacy; ^ Roman Cathohcs were 
admitted to ParHament, and there was no office from which 
they were henceforth excluded except those of Regent, Lord 
Chancellor of England, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and 
Viceroy of Ireland. Until the last the King threatened that 
he would abdicate rather than give the royal assent to such a 
measure, but when the time came he signed it (April 13, 1829), 
though not without a feeble protest. He wrote to the Lord 
Chancellor, "The King never before affixed his name with pain 
or regret to any Act of the Legislature." 

Mrs. Fitzherbert, like all Roman Catholics, was much in- 
terested in the progress of this measure through Parliament, 
but she took no part in the agitation connected with it. Per- 
haps, knowing the King's strong prejudice to Emancipation, 
she was anxious not to widen the breach between them by 
publicly taking up an attitude of opposition to his views. After 
all, her advocacy would make no difference; she had no longer 
any influence in political matters; she knew that the King was 
feeble in health, bowed down by burdens of state, and unable 
to cope with his imperious Ministers. She had no wish to add, 
even remotely, to his worries. In the excited state of public 
opinion which preceded the passing of the Act, she avoided 
London, and remained at Brighton until the measure had 
received the royal assent. In her letters to Mrs. Damer at this 
time, she makes not the slightest reference to Emancipation, 
though it touched her nearly, or to the settlement of a question 
which had much to do with her final separation from the King. 
This may in part have been due to the fact that she and her 
adopted daughter were of different faiths, and the subject of 
religion was never touched upon between them. Her reserve 
can only be ascribed to prudence, not to indifference, for as 
the years went by she became more and more devoted to her 
Church, and everything connected with it. Though tolerant in 
her views, liberal in her charities," and giving freely to any 

1 This is now superseded by a general oath of allegiance. It was simplified 
in 1868. 



382 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

deserving person or institution, without distinction of creed, 
she never for a moment forgot that her own rehgion had the 
first claim on her. For years she had supported the Roman 
CathoUc Mission at Brighton, and she now contributed £1000 
towards the building of a church there, dedicated to St. John 
the Baptist, and gave liberally towards its support. She fitted 
up a beautiful Httle oratory in her house on the Steine, and she 
kept a resident chaplain, the Rev. William Lopez. Morning 
and evening she worshipped in her oratory with those of her 
household who were of her faith. The others she never at- 
tempted to influence in any way. 

The Roman Catholic Relief Bill was the last act of George 
IV., if his act it could be called. The worry and distress which 
it caused him preyed upon his health. Neither the Roman 
Catholics nor the Ministers would give the King credit for 
sincerity in his opposition to Emancipation, yet he was undoubt- 
edly sincere. Like George III., he considered it to be a breach 
of his coronation oath, and he felt that he had failed in his 
duty as a defender of the reformed rehgion. "Let them get a 
Cathohc King in Clarence," he said bitterly, after the Bill had 
passed into law, and he threatened to go to Hanover and return 
no more to England. Of course a great deal of this unavaiKng 
lamentation was due to the state of the King's health, which 
was seriously affected by dropsy, gout, and accumulated ills. 
Down at Windsor he was slowly dying. He became more 
nervous and irritable every day, and at times was subject to 
partial blindness. His physical sufferings, which were agonis- 
ing, he bore with the courage and fortitude of his race, but his 
mind showed signs of giving way under the strain. To this 
was probably due those strange humours, whimxS, and delusions 
which marked his declining days. He now lived at Windsor in 
almost oriental seclusion. He seldom went outside the park; 
all the roads were strongly guarded, no stranger was admitted 
inside the gates, and when he drove out his equerries rode on 
before to see that no one was spying. He drove in a low 
phaeton in the closely-guarded grounds, sometimes alon3, some- 
times with Lady Conyngham. The Lady Steward kept close 
watch over him ; she saw that her reign would not be very long, 
and she tightened her grasp. She and Knighton ruled the King 
in private matters, as the Duke of Wellington did in pubhc 




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THE DEATH OF THE KING 383 

affairs. Feeble and ailing, the King had no longer the strength 
to withstand any of them. Though he quarrelled with the Duke, 
he knew him to be a statesman who had the honour and welfare 
of the country at heart. He clung to Lady Conyngham because 
she amused him, and chased away the demon of depression, and 
he bore with Knighton because he was indispensable to him. 
In the autumn of 1829 the King's physicians tried to raise 
him from his lethargy; they recommended a change of air, and 
advised him to go to Brighton. They failed, for both the Duke 
of Cumberland, who had now become the King's favourite 
brother, and Lady Conyngham were opposed to the idea. 
He was safe in their hands at Windsor, and they meant to keep 
him there. If he went further afield, who could tell what alien 
influence might come between them and him? At Brighton, 
especially, there was danger. The King had shown lately a 
habit of dwelling on the past, and in his wanderings the name 
of Mrs. Fitzherbert had more than once come to his lips. 
Some dormant chord in his memory vibrated; he thought of 
the woman he had loved, the wife he had forsaken, and tears 
sprang to his eyes, whether of remorse or maudlin sentiment, 
who shall say? Perhaps they were tears of self-pity, for the 
loneliness and lovelessness of his old age. Lady Conyngham 
noted these moods, and always turned the subject of Mrs. 
Fitzherbert adroitly aside; it was soon forgotten. But if the 
King went to Brighton early associations would be recalled to 
him in force, and with Mrs. Fitzherbert living next door who 
could say what might happen ? True, the old lady was seventy- 
three, and could hardly be considered as a serious rival. But 
Lady Conyngham did not feel safe, and so, when the King was 
on the point of yielding to his doctors' advice and going to 
Brighton, she pretended to be very ill, and quite unable to leave 
Windsor. The King would not go anywhere without her, and 
the idea was abandoned. Some rumour of this may have 
reached Mrs. Fitzherbert's ears, for she writes : ■ — 

Mrs. Fitzherbert to the Hon. Mrs. Dawson Darner. 

"Brighton, November 10, 1829. 
"There is some talk, my dear Minney, of the King coming 
here. I hear the Duke of Cumberland is outrageous with his 



384 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Majesty for quitting the environs of Windsor. I f( ar we shall 
have the Duke here, though many people say thut the King 
comes to Brighton to get rid of him. . . . But I do not expect 
the King will come. Lady Conyngham is seriously ill, and 
the Duke of Cumberland uses all his interest to prevent a visit 
here. The Pavilion is made quite ready to receive his Majesty, 
and some people think that he will come, but I do not think he 
will. . . . Think of me. Dearest, in this house quite alone, and 
unless I have you or the Jerninghams I am content to be so. 
I am perfectly comfortable, and everybody is so kind and good 
to me. My dear friend Lady Holland is my opposite neighbour. 
She sends constantly to inquire after me, and has been to see 
me, but I have not yet returned her visit. I gave you a poor 
account of myself in my last letter; I am now, thank God, 
quite well again, and have exerted myself to the utmost to 
make the inhabitants gay and happy. I wish I had you, 
Dearest, to assist me, for I am not able to do much ; my mind is 
youthful, but my body is very old ; the least thing fatigues me." 

With the New Year, 1830, the King grew worse. To his 
other maladies were now added an affection of the heart and a 
difficulty of breathing. Yet still the doctors hoped that his 
strong constitution would pull him through. Conspicuous 
among these courtly physicians was Sir Henry Halford, an able, 
upright man. His enemies (all successful men have their 
enemies) dubbed him "the eel-backed baronet," and declared 
that "a flexible knee and supple back had enabled him 'to boo' 
his pretensions into the palace, and indeed into almost every 
nobleman's mansion in the kingdom." Sir Henry was one of 
the few disinterested people about George IV. in the last nionths 
of his life. Another, of course, was the Prime Minister, the 
Duke of WeUington, in whom at this crisis both the King and 
the heir-presumptive, the Duke of Clarence, placed absolute 
confidence. "In the critical state of his Majesty, the oftener 
you can find time to proceed to Windsor the better," wrote the 
Duke significantly, for he knew well the self-seekers with whom 
the dying monarch was surrounded. The hypocritical Knigh- 
ton and the avaricious Lady Conyngham fought over him for 
mastery, each hating the other, yet neither strong enough to 
dislodge the other. Lady Conyngham, knowing that the sands 



THE DEATH OF THE KING ^85 

Were fast running out, took advantage of the King's condition 
to lay hands on whatever she could find, and no one dared to 
stop her. All the time she professed the greatest distress for 
the King's illness, and prayed with unction for his recovery. 
"First she packed, and then she prayed; and then she packed 
again," writes one.^ Members of the royal family came occa- 
sionally to see the King; the Duke of Cumberland came fre- 
quently, and obtained donations for charities in which he was 
interested. But the poor King, whose lonely and unloved con- 
dition compelled pity, was hardly in a condition to see any one. 
His delusions increased, and his memory failed him; he passed 
most of his time in bed, and rarely quitted his room. 

So things went on until May 1830, the King now rallying, 
now faihng again; the mystery which always surrounds a royal 
sick-bed kept the people ignorant of his serious condition. But 
when it was announced in May that the levees and drawing- 
rooms were postponed, alarming rumours began to be circu- 
lated. Mrs. Fitzherbert, who was at Brighton, knew no more 
of the King's state of health than any one outside the inner 
circle of Windsor, but when it was announced that he would 
hold no court she wrote to Mrs. Damer, "I am sorry that the 
drawing-room is postponed; in my opinion there will be nothing 
of the sort this season. I am very sorry for the cause, and, for 
several reasons, it has worried me a good deal ! But I hope the 
King will get well again, though I am sure he will not be able 
to hold either levee or drawing-room." 

She had at this time no idea of the King's dangerous condi- 
tion, but the thought of him ill and suffering aroused her 
sympathies, and she felt keenly that she, who was nearest to 
him, was at such a time kept at arnf's length. She begged 
Mi's. Damer to let her know any scrap of news she heard. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert to the Hon. Mrs. Dawson Damer. 

"Brighton, Saturday morning. 

"I have this day got your letter, dearest Minney. George's ^ 

1 It is said that two waggon-loads of jewellery, plate, &c., were sent away 
from the Castle by Lady Conyngham during the last months of the King's 
illness. 

^ Colonel George Fitzclarence, eldest son by Mrs. Jordan of the Duke of 
Clarence (afterwards William IV.). He was created Earl of Munster in 183 1. 
2 A 



386 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

account the day before of what the Duke of Wellington reported 
had made me hope that the King was not so ill as rumour said, 
and that the drawing-room, &c., being put an end to, would 
relieve his mind. I remembered the King always Hked to 
make himself out worse to excite compassion, and that he 
always wished every one to think him dangerously ill, when 
little was the matter with him. This I had hoped was the case 
at present, but, alas! I fear it is not so from your account, and 
from the accounts of others. I think I am better here than in 
town for a few days longer. The constant histories respecting 
the King, and people's curiosity to find out what I think, and 
what I do, would annoy me so much that, sad as it is here, I 
am spared many uncomfortable moments." 

Again she writes a few days later, when the report was more 
favourable : — 

"Your letter this morning, my dearest Minney, was very 
acceptable; for, having read an account of the King in the 
Court Journal, I did not know what to think. The number of 
falsehoods that are circulated, though I do not believe them, 
worry me sadly, and one does not know what to believe or on 
whom one can depend. I pray God he may recover. The 
thing that seems unpleasant is the physicians never leaving 
him, and the parade of the bulletins at St. James's, which 
formerly were never posted up except on very serious occasions. 
But perhaps the etiquette is altered now. I have now fixed 
my departure from this place for Wednesday next. I have 
passed my time here very quietly; I can always occupy myself, 
and I feel that, from indisposition and old age, this sort of life 
is the only thing that is fit for me." 

Mrs. Fitzherbert lingered at Brighton, consumed with 
anxiety on the King's account. This anxiety she tried to con- 
ceal even from Mrs. Damer, for on the subject of her relations 
with the King she was always very reticent, even to her nearest 
and dearest. At last, when the news reached her that the King 
was really in danger, she determined to seek information at the 
fountain-head. 

"I have," she writes to Mrs. Damer, "frequently intended 
writing to Sir Henry Halford. I have always delayed for fear 
of being thought intruding and curious, but your letter has 



THE DEATH OF THE KING 387 

given me courage, and I have by this night's mail dispatched a 
letter for him under cover to Whale ^ to leave at Sir Henry's 
door, for if it were known, in this gossiping place, that I had 
written, or received, a letter, a thousand falsehoods would be 
afloat." 

The kind-hearted physician, who was an old and trusted 
friend of both the King and Mrs. Fitzherbert, sent her the 
following answer to her letter: — 

Sir Henry Haljord to Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

"Windsor Castle, June 3, 1830. 
"My dear kind Madam, — I have not written a letter, 
nay not a note, since I came to Windsor on Sunday Se'nnight, 
excepting to such of the Royal Family as required information' 
and as it was my duty to give it. But I' yield most wiHingly to 
our friendship what I should withhold on any other possible 
grounds and motives. 

"The King has been, and continues to be, excessively ill, 
with embarrassment and difficulty of breathing. The worst 
circumstances under which I ever witnessed the Dukes of 
Clarence and Sussex, under their attacks of spasmodic asthma, 
hardly come up to his Majesty's distress at times. What is to 
be the result I can hardly venture to say with confidence. His 
Majesty's constitution is a gigantic one, and his elasticity under 
the most severe pressure exceeds what I have ever witnessed 
in thirty-eight years' experience. I think I can say with much 
more certainty what must be my own fate, unless a speedy 
amendment or fatal issue arrives soon, for I have devoted myself 
to his Majesty's service from a grateful sense of his confidence 
in me, as well as from my loyalty; and the constant calls upon 
my powers, both of body and mind, now press almost too heavily 
upon me, as they occur both night and day. 

"Pray continue to beheve me, my kind affectionate friend, 
my dear Mrs. Fitzherbert, your faithful and attached servant, 

"Henry Haleord." 2 

' Mrs. Fitzherbert's butler in Tilney Street. 

2 This letter, which has never been published before, was found among 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's papers after her death. 



388 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

On receipt of this letter Mrs. Fitzherbert nerved herself to 
take a step which she never would have taken under any other 
circumstances. At the time she spoke no word of it, even to 
Mrs. Damer. The thought of the King, her husband, lying on 
his sick-bed, suffering and alone, moved her to the heart. At 
such a time all was forgotten and forgiven; all the wrongs and 
indignities he had heaped upon her. She conquered her pride, 
and her fear of repulse, and remembered only that she loved 
him. She wrote him the following letter, in which the conflict 
between her love and her pride can be clearly seen : — 

Mrs. Fitzherbert to His Majesty the King. 

" Sir, — After many repeated struggles with myself, from 
the apprehension of appearing troublesome or intruding upon 
Your Majesty, after so many years of continued silence, my 
anxiety respecting Your Majesty has got the better of my 
scruples, and I trust Your Majesty will believe me most sincere, 
when I assure you how truly I have grieved to hear of your 
sufferings. From the late account, I trust Your Majesty's 
health is daily improving, and no one will feel more rejoiced 
[than I] to learn Your Majesty is restored to complete con- 
valescence, which I pray to God you may long enjoy, accom- 
panied with every degree of happiness you could wish for, or 
desire. 

"I have enclosed this letter to Sir H[enry] H[alford], as 
Your Majesty must be aware that there is no person about you 
through whom I could make a communication of so private a 
nature, attended with a perfect conviction of its never being 
divulged. 

"I have the honour to be, &c." ^ 

Mrs. Fitzherbert despatched this under cover to Sir Henry 
Halford, and besought him to give it to the King. She prayed 
that the answer would be a summons to the King's bedside, 
and she hurried up to London, so as to be nearer Windsor if 
need arose, though it was almost too much to hope that she 

1 The above copy of the undated latter which Mrs. Fitzherbert wrote to 
George IV. shortly before his death was written in her own handwriting, and 
was placed by her among the papers she deposited in Coutts's Bank in 1833, 
though it does not appear on Langdale's list. It is published here by gracious 
permission of his Majesty the King. 



THE DEATH OF THE KING 389 

would be sent for. Sir Henry Halford watched a favourable 
opportunity, and gave Mrs. Fitzherbert's letter to the King, 
telling him from whom it came. The King seized it with 
eagerness, read it with emotion, and placed it under his pillow, 
and then — apparently forgot all about it. Perhaps it was 
stolen from him while he was asleep, or put on one side lest he 
should recall its existence. At any rate no answer came to 
Mrs. Fitzherbert. She had written too late. The dying mon- 
arch had by now partly lost control of his faculties. He was 
incapable of remembering things, or of concentrating his mind 
upon any subject; part of the time he was unconscious, and 
most of the time asleep, and even when awake, he was often 
subject to strange delusions, though when he ralhed he was 
able to talk coherently. His hands were so swollen and crippled 
with gout that he could no longer hold a pen, and he affixed a 
stamp to documents instead of the royal sign-manual. The 
Duke of WeUington and the physicians felt that the end was 
not far off. The Bishop of Chichester, Dr. Carr, formerly 
Vicar of Brighton, was commanded to Windsor. The King 
knew well what the Bishop's presence signified, and with quiet 
courage prepared himself to die. He had "two satisfactory 
interviews" with the Bishop, who prayed with him, and he 
read a good deal from the Bible which had been placed by his 
bedside. 

The King lingered, now rallying, now falling back, until 
the evening of Friday the 25 th of June. His physicians then 
told him they could do no more, and that his death was only 
a question of hours. To this the King replied, " God's will be 
done," and a few moments later he asked, "Where is Chiches- 
ter?" The Bishop of Chichester was summoned, and from his 
hands the dying King received the last Sacrament. After this, 
he composed himself to sleep. Sir Wathen Waller remained 
with him, Sir Henry Halford having retired to get a few hours' 
rest. The King slept quietly until nearly three o'clock, when 
he awoke, complained of a fainting sensation, and asked for 
sal-volatile. When it was brought to him he could not drink 
it; and pressing the hand of Waller, he exclaimed, "My boy, 
this is death." At that moment Sir Henry Halford, who had 
been hastily summoned, entered the room. The King gave 
him his hand, but could not speak, and a few minutes later 



390 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

breathed his last — at a quarter to three o'clock on June 26, 
1830. 

Thus died George IV. in the sixty-eighth year of his age 
and the eleventh of his reign. He has been one of the most 
abused of our English kings; yet now, some seventy years after 
his death, when the mists of passion and prejudice which ob- 
scured his memory have to some extent cleared away, it is 
beginning to be seen that the judgment passed on him was too 
harsh. Even he had his good qualities, some of them lovable. 
His faults were many and grave, but some of them were very 
human, and others were almost inevitable from his education 
and environment. It does not fall within the scope of this 
book to touch upon his life, except so far as it relates to the 
woman whom he wedded in his youth, wronged in his mature 
years, and neglected in his old age. His conduct to her may 
be palhated, but it can never be justified; yet even here much 
of it was due to inherent defects in his character, which was 
unstable as water. It is easy for those who live far removed 
by time and circumstances from his difficulties and temptations, 
to condemn him. We at least will not add to that condemna- 
tion, but remember only that there must have been good in 
him, or a good woman would not have loved him. 

"He has out-soared the shadow of our night, 
Envy and calumny and hate and pain; 
And that unrest which men miscall delight, 
Can touch him not, and torture not again." 




THE STATUE OF GEORGE IV. AT BRIGHTON 
i,By Sir Francis Chantrey) 



CHAPTER XXIX 

THE MINIATURE 

(1830-1831) 

While these scenes were being enacted at Windsor, Mrs. 
Fitzherbert was waiting in London for the message that never 
came. The first knowledge of the King's death was conveyed 
to her by one who had heard the toUing of the great bell of 
St. Paul's. Later in the day came a kind message from the 
new King, WiUiam IV., who, even in the bustle and confusion 
consequent on his accession, did not forget what was due to 
his brother's widow.^ 

A week later, when all that was mortal of George IV. was 
laid to rest at Windsor, there came to Mrs. Fitzherbert Sir 
Henry Halford, who told her of the King's last moments, and 
of the way he had welcomed her letter. No doubt he explained 
to her that, in the King's dying condition, an answer was well- 
nigh impossible. His words brought her slight consolation, for 
she afterwards said that "nothing had so 'cut her up' as not 
having received one word in reply to that last letter." ^ Later 
again came tidings which brought her more comfort. Wilham 
IV. had sent her back, a few days after his brother's funeral, 
many of the jewels, trinkets, and miniatures which from time 
to time she had given the late King. They were found in 
George IV.'s cabinet; but one trinket was missing, and for this 
Mrs. Fitzherbert made particular inquiries. In the early days 
of their married hfe the Prince of Wales had given Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert a large diamond. She had two tiny miniatures, one 
of herself, and one of the Prince, painted (it is said) by Cosway. 

1 " On the death of his brother, he (WilHam IV.) sent the Duke of Sussex 
to Mrs. Fitzherbert to put her servants into mourning for his brother, yet he 
would have none himself, nor allow those around him to wear it." — " Greville 
Memoirs." 

2 Langdale, op. cit. p. 136. 

391 



392 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

The diamond was cut in two, and each of the miniatures was 
covered with the half-diamond, and set round with tiny bril- 
hants. The whole formed two small lockets. The Prince took 
possession of the one containing the miniature of Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert, and she of the other containing his portrait; both vowed 
they would wear them always in memory of their love. The 
trinket now missing was the miniature of Mrs. Fitzherbert 
which she had given to the King. She remembered how, in 
the will he had made in her favour more than thirty years ago, 
he had given directions that ^^the picture of my beloved wife, my 
Maria Fitzherbert, may be interred with me, suspended round 
my neck with a ribbon, as I used to wear it when I lived, and 
placed right upon my heart." She wondered now if he had 
kept his word, and this last touching proof of his love would 
be granted to her. The fact that it was missing was in her 
favour, yet, after all these years of silence, she hardly dared to 
hope. She wrote to WiUiam IV. asking that search might be 
made for the miniature, and if found that it might be returned 
to her. The good-natured King caused inquiries to be made 
concerning it, and with the following result, which he bade 
Captain George Seymour, brother of Mrs. Damer, communicate 
to Mrs. Fitzherbert without delay: — 

Captain Seymour, R.N., to Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

" Tuesday morning. 

"My dear Mrs. Fitzherbert, — The King sent me yes- 
terday evening to desire I would tell you that he had caused 
inquiries to be made about the little picture of yourself in a 
gold case, and that he had every reason to believe that it was 
not removed from the late King's neck. Sir Frederick Watson 
confirms this circumstance, which must afford you some satis- 
faction, however melancholy it will be, and I believe they are 
right, as it was seen on his neck a twelvemonth back also. 
Yours affectionately, my dear Mrs. Fitzherbert, 

"G. F. Seymour." 

Further confirmation was later forthcoming from the Duke 
of Wellington, whom the late King had appointed his executor. 
When he was on his deathbed George IV. gave the Duke strict 



THE MINIATURE 393 

injunctions to see that nothing should be removed from his body- 
after death, and that he should be buried in the night-clothes 
in which he lay. He referred to the matter more than once. 
The Duke promised that his Majesty's wishes should be obeyed, 
and the King seemed much happier for this assurance. After 
George IV. 's death the Duke saw that his wishes were carried 
out to the letter; the body was disturbed as Httle as possible, 
and nothing was taken from it. Left alone with the body, 
which was then lying in an open coffin, the Duke noticed that 
something was suspended from the King's neck by a much 
worn black ribbon. He was seized with an uncontrollable 
desire to see what it was, and coming nearer he drew aside the 
collar of the shirt and lo! upon the dead man's breast was the 
tiny locket containing the miniature of Mrs. Fitzherbert. The 
Duke reverently drew the night-shirt over the jewel again, so 
that none might see. The motive of the King's dying request 
was now apparent to him, and the Duke sav/ that it was ful- 
filled. The King was buried with the miniature next his 
heart.^ 

It was not until some little time after George IV. 's death 
that the Duke of Wellington told Mrs. Dawson Damer, whom 
he met at dinner in London, that he had seen the missing 
miniature. It was evidently on his conscience to do so, for he 
told the story with some hesitation, and when he confessed to 
the curiosity which had led him to examine the locket, he blushed 
like a girl. The confession seemed to afford him rehef, and 
he told Mrs. Damer that he left it to her discretion to tell Mrs. 
Fitzherbert or not. Mrs. Damer deemed it best to wait her 
opportunity, for Mrs. Fitzherbert v/as very reticent on all that 
concerned the late King. But one day, when Mrs. Damer had 
led the conversation in that direction, she ventured to tell 
her of the Duke's story. Mrs. Fitzherbert Hstened without a 

1 Lord Albemarle in his "Memoirs," and Mary Frampton in her "Diary," 
both relate this story. I have been told it also by one of the daughters of the 
late Mrs. Dawson Damer, who had it from her mother's lips. Further corrobo- 
ration is afforded by Mr. Charles Bodenham of Rotherwas, a connection of 
Mrs. Fitzherbert. He made inquiries of the Bishop of Chichester, who had 
attended George IV. in his last illness, who said, on his mentioning the name 
of Mrs. Fitzherbert, "Oh, she was very amiable — my faithful friend. Yes, 
it is very true what you heard, I mean about the body of the King, when they 
wrapped it round in the cere-cloth; but before that was done I saw a portrait 
suspended round his neck." — Langdale, "Memoirs." 



394 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

word, but presently Mrs. Darner saw that she was quietly weep- 
ing.^ 

Though Mrs. Fitzherbert said not a word, it was evident 
that she derived comfort from this pathetic proof of the King's 
affection. The cynic may say that it did not amount to much, 
but to her it seemed a great deal, and compensated for tl\e fact 
that she had received no answer to her letter. He had sinned 
against her, it was true, but this seemed to show that his heart 
had been hers always. Now that he was dead she remembered 
only what was good in him. No word of blame or reproach 
crossed her lips — she forgave all, perhaps because she under- 
stood all; she remembered only that he had been her husband 
and she had loved him. 

Several members of the royal family paid her visits, or wrote 
her letters of condolence; all her friends called on her and showed 
much sympathy, but she saw none of them. She remained in 
London through the summer, and lived in close retirement. 

Apart from her grief, the death of George IV. brought upon 
Mrs. Fitzherbert considerable anxiety. She distrusted Knigh- 
ton, the late King's secretary, and she did not know what use 
he might make of the letters she had written to George IV., 
should any fall into his hands; she believed him capable of any 
baseness. Moreover, George IV. 's death affected her pecu- 
niarily. She held the mortgage on the Pavilion at Brighton 
which had been procured for her by the Duke of York and 
Queen Charlotte. This guaranteed her an annuity of ;i^6ooo 
a year for life. The Duke of Welhngton was one of the late 
King's executors, and to him she appealed to know how she 
stood. Sir William Knighton, who was the other executor, 
endeavoured to interfere, but Mrs. Fitzherbert absolutely re- 
fused to have any communication with him whatever. The 
Duke was not altogether friendly to her, but she knew him to 
be a man of honour and a gentleman — Knighton, she said, 
was neither. William IV. was of course appealed to, but he 

1 Mrs. Fitzherbert left the companion locket, the one composed of the other 
half of the diamond, and containing the miniature of George IV., to Mrs. 
Damer. At her death Mrs. Damer bequeathed it to her eldest daughter, the 
late Countess Fortescue. It has now passed into the possession of Lady 
Fortescue's daughter-in-law. Countess Fortescue, who kindly allowed me to 
have a photograph of this interesting heirloom taken for this book. The 
photograph is the exact size of the miniature. 




{a) Open 




{i) Closed 



LOCKET CONTAINING MINIATURE OF GEORGE, 
PRINCE OF WALES 

(Compatiio7i of the locket given ly the Pfi?ice to Airs. Fitzhe7-bert soon 
after their viarriage, containing her Miniature, which is buried 
with the King at Windsor. This is the exact size of the original. 
By permission (7/"Viscountess Ebrington) 



THE MINIATURE 395 

left the settlement of the matter in the hands of the Duke, 
premising that Mrs. Fitzherbert should receive most favourable 
consideration. The Duke was a Tory of the old school, and 
he held above all things that the law must be obeyed. Mrs. 
Fitzherbert had married the late King in defiance of the law, 
therefore the Duke held she was not married to him at all. 
But if the Duke was hard and unsympathetic, he was also just, 
and he recognised that she had special claims to consideration. 
He asked her if she had any papers which would constitute a 
claim upon the estate of the late King; she told him "she had 
not even a scrap of paper, for that she had never in her hfe 
been an interested person." ^ Fortunately there was at this 
time in London Colonel Gurwood, who was not only a great 
friend of Mrs. Fitzherbert, but the private secretary of the 
Duke of WeUington; he therefore enjoyed the confidence of 
both, and acted as a medium between them. Mrs. Fitzherbert 
looked to him to check the machinations (real or imaginary) of 
Sir Wilham Knighton, whom she persisted in regarding as her 
enemy. All this anxiety worried her sadly. The following 
letter, which she wrote on her seventy-fourth birthday to Mrs. 
Dawson Darner, shows this : — 

"TiLNEY Street, Sunday, July 26, 1830. 
"My dearest Minney, — I was so worried with all the 
tracasseries of yesterday that I could not sleep, and therefore 
got up early and went to ten o'clock church. I am just returned, 
when I found your dear Httle note and the beautiful fan you 
were so kind as to send me; it is too fine for me, but very beau- 
tiful, and I beg you to accept my best thanks for it. My 
carriage is at your disposal, for I shall make no use of it, there- 
fore send and order it whenever you wish to have it. I know 
you do not hke going out on a Sunday, but perhaps later in the 
day you may be at hberty; you will be sure of finding me at 
all hours, and there is no one I shall be happier to see. Don't 
wish me happy returns of this day; I do not desire them for 
myself. I often regret (tho' I am told it is wrong) that I ever 
was born, but I won't touch upon this subject, as I don't wish 
to hurt your feehngs, and because I hope and beheve you have 

1 Langdale's "Memoirs," p. 142. Lord Stourton relates this. Yet she had 
the deed on the Pavilion. 



396 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

an affection for me. Mine towards you since your earliest 
infancy has never diminished. I won't bore you any longer, 
but merely add that my most sincere affection and good wishes 
ever have existed, and do exist, in the greatest degree towards 
you and yours. Your truly and affectionately attached, 

"M. F.-H." 

A week or two later she wrote to Mrs. Damer of the progress 
of her affairs : — 

"TiLNEY Street, August — , 1830. 
■ "I am getting every day better, and I think I owe it chiefly 
to having declined all torment with lawyers, &c. But now I 
am to begin this day, having received a letter from the Duke 
of Wellington, who comes to me this morning. The more I 
hear of my business the more certain I am that nothing on 
earth will be done for me. I see Fitzclarence ^ every day, but 
alas! the King and WeUington have, I fear, settled everything 
their own way, without any other person being able to alter 
their opinion. Luckily I have the deed for the charge on the 
PaviHon, or I should be penniless.^ All this worry makes me 
feel quite unwell and good for nothing, and I wish I were a 
hundred miles away from London. As soon as this business is 
settled I shall go to Brighton, where I do hope to be a little 
quiet, but for my misfortune, the whole set of Royalties go 
there on the 30th, so what I shall do I know not. I have some 
thoughts of going to Malvern to enjoy a httle rest and quiet at 
a distance from all the world. Halford and Jones both assure 
me rest and tranquillity are absolutely necessary to restore 
my strength and give me health." 

The Duke of Welhngton, with the King s sanction, did not 
take long to settle Mrs. Fitzherbert's affairs. The matter was 
finally arranged on this basis: Mrs. Fitzherbert was to be con- 
tinued the annuity of ;^6ooo a year which had been guaranteed 

1 Captain George Fitzclarence, eldest son of William IV., afterwards first 
Earl of Munster. 

2 This must be taken as a figure of speech, for even if Mrs. Fitzherbert had 
lost the ;£6ooo a year guaranteed her by the deed on the Pavilion, she would 
still have had her jointure of nearly ;£2000 a year under the will of Mr. Fitz- 
herbert, her houses in London and Brighton, and whatever money she might 
have put by. 



THE MINIATURE 



397 



to her by the deed on the PaviHon; on the other hand, and in 
consideration of the annuity, she was to abandon any other 
claim which she might have on the estate of the late King. 
The following letter sufficiently explains matters : — 

The Duke of Wellington to Mrs. Fitzherhert. 

"Walmer Castle, August 15, 1830, 

"My dear Madam, — ^Mr. Lowdham has sent here the 
copies of papers which I will have submitted to you by the 
hands of your collector, Mr. Forster, by which the King will 
provide for the payment of your annuity charged upon Brighton, 
and you will release the late King's personal property from any 
demand you might have upon it on account of that annuity. 
I recommend you to sign that release. In truth, if your annuity 
is charged upon the property at Brighton, your release of the 
personal is necessary only to enable the executors of the late 
King's will to hand over the whole of the personal property to 
the Treasury. Believe me, ever your most faithful servant, 

"Wellington."^ 

William IV.'s order for the payment of Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
annuity ran as follows: — 

"William R. 

"It is Our Royal will and pleasure that the Keeper 
of Our Privy Purse, for the time being, do, and shall during 
Our Ufe pay to Maria Fitzherbert of Tilney Street, in the 
county of Middlesex, Widow, during her life an Annuity, or 
annual sum of ;£6ooo, by four equal quarterly payments in the 
year; that is to say Lady Day, Midsummer Day, Michaelmas 
Day, and Christmas Day, the first payment to be made on 
Michaelmas Day next, in payment of an Annuity or annual 
sum of ;!^6ooo charged upon certain Freehold and Copyhold 
Property, belonging to his late Majesty King George IV., 
situated at Brighton in the county of Sussex by an Indenture 
dated i6th March 1808. 

1 The above letter has been given me for publication in this book by Miss 
Adele Gurwood, daughter of the late Colonel Gurwood, private secretary of 
the Duke of Wellington, and one of Mrs. Fitzherbert's executors. 



398 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

"Given at our Palace at Windsor the i8th day of Augtist, 
in the first year of our Reign (1830)." 

With this arrangement Mrs. Fitzherbert had to be content. 
She writes, a few days after the matter was settled, to Mrs. 
Darner : — 

"TiLNEY Street, August 28, 1830. 

"I am better, and hope that a change of scene and air at 
Brighton will restore me, for I have been dreadfully worried, 
but I hope now that I shall be quiet. I am sadly grieved at all 
the Royalties going so much sooner than they had intended to 
Brighton. I am determined to keep as far off them as I can. 
I desired Gurwood to write and tell you the finality of my 
wretched business — I had not courage to write about it myself." 

Mrs. Fitzherbert went down to Brighton on the morrow. 
The day after, August 30, William IV. and Queen Adelaide 
made their public entry into Brighton amid great rejoicings, the 
booming of cannon, the music of bands, the presentation of 
addresses, &c., &c. The loyal Brightonians were overjoyed 
at the new King's promise that he would not desert Brighton. 
On September 3, four thousand children wxre entertained to a 
free dinner on the Steine under Mrs. Fitzherbert's windows. 
The King and Queen visited the festivities. Two days later 
Mrs. Fitzherbert writes to Mrs. Damer: — 

' "Brighton, September 5, 1830. 
"We have, thank God, got a little quiet here. There never 
was anything like the public fetes and rejoicings we have had, 
but I, except for seeing what passed out of my windows, have 
not joined the gay throng. I am still a poor creature, and 
cannot regain my strength. . . . The Royalties are living very 
quietly, nobody at the Pavihon but the family; the only visitors 
are Mr. and Mrs. St. Clair; ^ She was the daughter of Lord 
Huntingtower. The town is so full you can scarcely drive 
along the streets, but except the Worcesters^ and Lady Ald- 

1 Hon. Katherine Camilla, married 1816 to George Sinclair, Esq., afterwards 
Sir George Sinclair, Bart. 

2 The Marquess of Worcester, who succeeded 1835 his father, as seventh 
Duke of Beaufort, and his second wife, Emily Frances, daughter of Charles 
Culling-Smith, Esq. 



THE MINIATURE 399 

boro' ^ not a face I ever saw before except the inhabitants. . . . 
The Duke of Cambridge's son ^ is here, and he brought him to 
see me the other day. I never saw a more dehghtful boy, very 
good-looking; the Duke remains in England till after the meeting 
of Parliament. What confusion there is all over the Continent.^ 
I am sadly afraid we shall get into some scrape in consequence. 

Despite the festivities consequent on his coming to Brighton 
the kind-hearted King was not unmindful of Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
and sent her a message, through his son, Colonel George Fitz- 
clarence, to ask her why she did not come to see him and the 
Queen at the Pavilion. Mrs. Fitzherbert then wrote to the 
King to say that her position was peculiarly difficult, and she 
had something to show him before she could obey his command, 
and wait upon him at the Pavilion. Moreover she was ill and 
suffering, and she begged him to do her the honour to first pay 
her a visit at her own house. The good-natured King went 
round to see Mrs. Fitzherbert the very next day without any 
ceremony. She received him, dressed in mourning, in her 
drawing-room on the first floor (she was too ill to go down- 
stairs), the windows of which looked across the Steine to the 
beautiful bronze statue of George IV. by Chantrey, then re- 
cently erected.^ The King greeted her with great kindness and 
affection; she recalled her long and intimate friendship with 
William IV., and resolved to tell him everything. No one else 
was present at this historic interview, but a year or two later 
Mrs. Fitzherbert gave Lord Stourton an account of what passed. 

"Upon her placing in his [the King's] hands the documents 
which have been preserved in justification of her character, and 
especially the certificate of her marriage, and another interesting 
and most affecting paper, this amiable Sovereign was moved 

1 Elizabeth, Dowager Countess of Aldborough, daughter of the Hon. and 
Rev. Frederick Hamilton, who married 1777 John, third Earl of Aldborough. 
He died in 1823; she survived him until 1845. 

2 Adolphus Frederick, Duke of Cambridge (1774-1850), seventh son of 
George III., Viceroy of Hanover, and his son, Prince George of Cambridge 
(1819-1904), afterwards second Duke of Cambridge, Commander-in-Chief. 

3 The French and Belgian Revolutions of 1830. 

* This statue was erected in 1828. The contract with Chantrey was for 
3000 guineas, but it cost the great sculptor over 6000 guineas. It is a master- 
piece of art, and one of the few beautiful things in Brighton. It is now in a 
neglected condition, and obscured bv stunted trees which have been planted 
right in front of it! 



400 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

to tears by their perusal, and expressed his surprise at so much 
forbearance with such documents in her possession, and under 
the pressure of such long and severe trials. He asked her what 
amends he could make her, and offered to make her a Duchess. 
She replied, that she did not wish for any rank; that she had 
borne through life the name of Mrs. Fitzherbert; that she had 
never disgraced it, and did not wish to change it ; that, therefore, 
she hoped his Majesty would accept her unfeigned gratitude for 
his gracious proposal, but that he would permit her to retain 
her present name. 

" ' Well, then, ' said he, 'I shall insist upon your wearing my 
livery,' and ended by authorising her to put on widow's weeds 
for his royal brother. He added, 'I must, however, soon see 
you at the PaviHon;' and I believe he proposed the following 
Sunday, a day on which his family were more retired, for seeing 
her at dinner, and spending the evening at the Pavilion. * I 
shall introduce you myself to my family,' said he, 'but you must 
send me word of your arrival.' The King then took his leave." ^ 

A few days later Mrs. Fitzherbert, in obedience to the 
King s command, dined at the Pavihon. When the carriage 
drove up to the door the King himself came out to receive her, 
handed her from the carriage, and gave her his arm into the 
house, where he presented her to Queen Adelaide, to his sister, 
the Princess Augusta, and the other members of his family " as 
one of themselves." At dinner he placed her next him, and 
treated her in every way as an honoured guest. Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert wrote the following account of this visit : — 

Mrs. Fitzherbert to the Hon. Mrs. Dawson Darner. 

"Brighton, September lo, 1830. 
"My dearest Minney, — There is nobody I write to so 
often as yourself, though you are well aware that my pen and 

1 The Brighton Herald of September 9, 1820, has the following: — "In the 
early part of the afternoon of last Monday, his Majesty. (William IV.) honoured 
Mrs. Fitzherbert with a visit of about three-quarters of an hour. When the 
King came out of Mrs. Fitzherbert's, some person rather shabbily dressed 
went up to the carriage as it left the door and presented a note to the servants, 
requesting them to give it to his Majesty. This not being complied with, the 
fellow pushed forward and dropped the note into the carriage through the 
window. The Duke of Cambridge has visited Mrs. Fitzherbert several times. 
On Tuesday Mrs. Fitzherbert left her name at the Pavilion." 



THE MINIATURE 401 

I are always at war. Nothing can be more amiable towards 
me than the inhabitants of the Pavilion. I have been asked 
there frequently, but being so lame I have not been able to 
profit of their invitation till the day before yesterday, when I 
hobbled into the house as well as I could. My reception was 
most flattering. I was overwhelmed with kisses from male 
and female; the Princess (Augusta) was particularly gracious. 
I felt rather nervous, never having been in the PaviHon since 
I was drove away by Lady Hertford. I cannot tell you of my 
astonishment at the magnificence, and the total change in that 
house since my first acquaintance with it.^ They lead a very 
quiet life — his family the only inhabitants. I think I counted 
to-day eight Fitzclarences.^ George Fitzclarence comes next 
week. You never saw people appear so happy as they all do. 
Pray remember me most kindly to George (Colonel Darner), 
and with many kisses to the chicks,^ behevc me, my dearest 
Minney, yours affectionately. ^^lyj- -p tt n 

Speaking of this dinner party, Mrs. Fitzherbert told Lord 
Stourton that she was much surprised at the great composure 
with which she was able to sustain the trial of fortitude which 
appeared so alarming at a distance. She believed the excite- 
ment had sustained her. It was not so at the next dinner at 
which she was present in the same family circle. The many 
reflections which then oppressed her mind very nearly over- 
powered her. The next morning Mrs. Fitzherbert received 
this kind little note : — 

Her Majesty the Queen to Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

" Dear Madam, — I hope you passed a good night, and 
have not suffered from it. This fine day will, I hope, enable 

1 George IV. had redecorated and enlarged the Pavilion since Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert had withdrawn from it in 1810. 

2 The Fitzclarences were: (i) George, first Earl of Munster; (2) Frederick, 
in the Army; (3) Adolphus, a Rear- Admiral ; (4) Augustus, in Holy Orders; 
(5) Sophia, married the first Lord de I'lsle and Dudley; (6) Mary, married 
General Fox; (7) Elizabeth, married the Earl of Erroll; (8) Augusta, married 
first the Hon. John Kennedy-Erskine, and secondly Lord John Frederick 
Gordon; (9) Amelia, married Viscount Falkland. All the eight younger 
children were raised to the rank of the younger children of a marquis. 

3 Mrs. Damer had two children at that time. 



402 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

you to take a drive, which I am certain will do you much good. 
I was delighted to see you looking so well yesterday, and trust 
we shall meet oftener next winter than we have done this year. 
Accept my best wishes for your health and happiness, and 
believe me, my dear Mrs. Fitzherbert, yours sincerely, 

"Adelaide." 

Mrs. Fitzherbert had meant to leave for London, but now 
she stayed on a little longer. During the remainder of her 
sojourn at Brighton, she frequently dined at the Pavilion en 
jamille, and received the greatest kindness and consideration 
from the King and Queen. She writes to Mrs. Damer : — 

"Brighton, October i, 1830. 
"Although you have forbad, my dearest Minney, my going 
to town, I cannot comply with your wish, and therefore you 
will see me arrive next Tuesday. I am now, thank God, got 
quite well again,^ and able to enjoy a little society, which from 
indisposition I have been deprived of almost the whole time 
I have been here. I shall be delighted to see you. I promise 
I will not bore or annoy you, but I really cannot stay at Brighton 
any longer, having no one but a man and a maid, and not being 
able to ask anybody to eat their fish and mutton with me, which 
is rather uncomfortable. I am going to-day to dine at the 
Pavilion, and to-morrow with Lady Aldboro', who keeps open 
house and has very good parties, but is sadly mortified at having 
her Company often taken from her to dine with the Royalties, 
and never once being invited herself. I think it is very hard 
upon her, particularly as she has taken a house here and fur- 
nished it with her fine things from Paris, and means to make 
Brighton her home. I never saw this place so full in my life; 
you can scarcely get along the streets for the number of carriages, 
very smart, and the owners dressed out as if going to some enter- 
tainment, but not a face you ever saw before." 

Mrs. Fitzherbert went to London a few days after, but re- 
turned to Brighton in December. She was eagerly expected. 

' "We understand that Mrs. Fitzherbert has derived very essential benefit 
from drinking the waters of the chalybeate at the Wick, Brighton." — Brighton 
Gazette, September 23, 1830. 



THE MINIATURE 403 

A local paper writes, "The return of Mrs. Fitzherbert, that 
excellent benefactress and patroness of this town, to her Steine 
mansion, which continues to be anxiously looked for, will in all 
probability offer the signal for the resumption of the splendid 
pleasures called the 'local Almack's' at the fine rooms of the 
Old Ship Hotel. Our younger Fashionables are becoming 
quite impatient of further delay." ^ Mrs. Fitzherbert came a 
few days later, but "the younger Fashionables" had to wait 
a little longer, for she resigned her position as Lady Patroness 
of the Balls on the plea of ill-health (in -reahty, on account of 
her deep mourning for the late King). Three ladies were ap- 
pointed her successors. "On retiring from this appointment," 
writes our chronicler, "Mrs. Fitzherbert takes with her the 
respect of the fashionable community, on account of the disin- 
terested and impartial manner in which she disposed of the 
numerous claims made for admission." ^ 

Mrs. Fitzherbert writes to Mrs. Dawson Darner : — 

"Brighton, December 30, 1830. 
"I have been very busy giving up being patroness to the 
balls, and have had some trouble to get ladies to take my place. 
I must say they have been very kind to me. The three new 
patronesses are Lady Jane Peel, Lady George Seymour, and 
Lady Elizabeth Dickens. I believe my house would have been 
set on fire if they had not had a ball last night. ... I am quite 
happy at the thought of seeing you all, but I must beg of you 
not to come till the day after the New Year, as I have many 
weeks ago promised the King to dine with him on the 3rst and 
New Year's Day. I should be quite miserable to be absent 
from you when you arrive, but you are well aware that I cannot 
send an excuse to the Pavilion. I have been there frequently, 
sometimes when I was scarcely able to go, and nothing could 
exceed the kindness, I may say the affectionate conduct, of the 
whole party towards me." 

Colonel and Mrs. Damer and their children came to stay 
with Mrs. Fitzherbert a few days after the New Year. The 

1 Brighton Guardian , December 8, 1830. 

- These private subscription dances were continued until recent years, the 
lady patronesses being increased to six. 



404 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

King asked them to dinner with her at the Pavilion, and we 
find her giving an evening party in their honour.^ 

The King and Queen gave many entertainments at the 
Pavihon this winter, including a children's party, at which 
Queen Adelaide introduced for the first time into England the 
German Christmas-tree. To all these festivities Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert and her guests were bidden. At the end of January 
their Majesties gave a ball at the Pavilion which is thus de- 
scribed : — 

"The floor of the music-room was chalked in the most 
beautiful manner with the royal arms in the centre; upwards 
of 800 of the inhabitants and gentry of the county had the 
honour of receiving cards of invitation. ... It was at a very 
late hour before the most brilliant entertainment ever witnessed 
in this town concluded. Prince George of Cambridge had for 
his partners Lady d'Estaing and Mrs. Fox, He seemed in high 
spirits, and danced with ease and elegance. Their Majesties, 
the Duke of Sussex, the Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg, 
Princess Augusta, and the Duke and Duchess of Glouces- 
ter witnessed the gay and happy scene with evident delight. 
His Majesty conversed with his guests with the greatest affa- 
bility, particularly with Mrs. Fitzherbert, who looked exceed- 
ingly well, and whose sweetness and dignity of expression are 
proof against the attacks of time. The Queen by her amiable 
condescension excited the admiration of all. The splendour 
of the scene was beyond description, and the dresses of the 
ladies were only exceeded by their personal charms." ^ 

Mrs. Fitzherbert was at this time an almost indispensable 
guest at the court of William IV. The King did all in his 
power to mark his respect for his brother's widow. He invited 
her frequently to the court festivities, not only at Brighton, but 
at St. James's. Her position was semi-royal. Except on official 
occasions, such as drawing-rooms, she attended all the court 
entertainments. The drawing-rooms she did not attend, be- 
cause there would have arisen the delicate question of her 

1 "Colonel and Mrs. Dawson Darner are staying here on a visit to Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, who, we are happy to learn, is better, and dined with the King on 
Sunday. Last night Mrs. Fitzherbert gave a large evening party, including all 
the persons attached to the Court who are still in Brighton." — ■ Brighton 
Gazette, January 12, 1832. 

2 Brighton Herald, January 29, 1831. 



THE MINIATURE 405 

precedence. By refusing the rank of duchess, and retaining 
her name of Fitzherbert, she could claim none except by cour- 
tesy, but by her refusal she had strengthened her position. Her 
acceptance of the King's offer would have been hable to mis- 
understanding. She had, as she remarked once before, "no 
wish to be a second Duchess of Kendal " : ^ she might have 
added, a Duchess of Portsmouth,^ or many another King's 
mistress. Her claim was that she was the late King's wife, 
though not his Queen. Therefore, while refusing to be created 
a duchess, she gladly availed herself of the King's offer that she 
should put her servants into the Royal livery, for it was a 
quasi-public acknowledgment of her peculiar position. The 
only thing now wanting to complete her happiness was the 
public acknowledgment of the fact of her marriage. Not its 
legaHty — that she had never insisted upon, for she knew it to 
be illegal ; but the acknowledgment that a ceremony of marriage 
had taken place between herself and the late King. To explain 
her eagerness on this point, it must be remembered that not 
only her marriage, but the fact that she had been through any 
ceremony at all, had been publicly denied in the House of 
Commons, and that denial had never been set right. All that 
she asked now was that the truth should be told as publicly as 
the falsehood had been, so that, as she said, she might die 
without a slur on her name. 

Had the matter rested with William IV., she would doubtless 
have had her way. Though the King, Hke most of the royal 
family, had long known that some form of marriage had taken 
place between his brother and Mrs. Fitzherbert, he had no 
idea, until she had shown him the papers in her possession, that 
the ceremony had been of so solemn and binding a nature — 
not binding in law, but doubly so in religion and honour. The 
moment William IV. realised that Mrs. Fitzherbert was canon- 
ically the late King's wife, he did everything in his power to 
repair the wrong. He would have done more, but the Duke 
of Wellington set his face like a flint against any public acknowl- 
edgment of the marriage. The Duke, as we have already 
pointed out, held that as Mrs. Fitzherbert had broken the law 
of the land when she went through a ceremony of marriage with 

1 Mistress of George I. ^ Mistress of Charles II. 



4o6 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

the heir to the throne, therefore she must abide by the conse- 
quences of her illegal act. Moreover, the matter was compli- 
cated now, as always, by the fact that she was a Roman CathoHc. 
And why, the Duke argued, to satisfy the scruples of an old 
woman of nearly eighty, should they rake up again a dead 
scandal — a scandal which would bring discredit on the mon- 
archy, already sufficiently discredited. The King (William 
IV.), in the opinion of the Duke of Wellington, had done all 
that was necessary, and even more than was necessary, to 
compensate Mrs. Fitzherbert for any hardship that she might 
have suffered, and there let the matter rest. There is no doubt 
that the Duke acted in this, as in all things, from a high sense 
of public duty, and the Duke at this time, as Prime Minister, 
was practically dictator, and so he had his way. There was 
no public acknowledgment of the marriage, and Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert went down to her grave with a doubt in many minds 
whether she had ever been married to George IV. at all. 



CHAPTER XXX 

THE REFORM BILL 

(1830-1832) 

Though Mrs. Fitzherbert now lived quite apart from public 
life, her interest in political affairs continued to be keen. The 
times were troublous and exciting; abroad, the revolution in 
France, by which Charles X. was driven from his throne, and 
Louis PhiHppe became King of the French, added to the spirit 
of unrest throughout Europe. At home, the carrying of Roman 
Cathohc Emancipation had given an impetus to the great 
cause of Parhamentary Reform. Mrs. Fitzherbert had favoured 
the former measure because it affected her religion, but she was 
by no means well-disposed towards the latter. In poHtics she 
was an old-fashioned Tory, though many of the benefits con- 
ferred upon her co-reHgionists had originated with the Whigs. 
It was an age of change, of progress, and of hberty, and many, 
the old people especially, thought they were being hurried down 
the slopes of reform to the depths of revolution. Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert was one of these, and when the Duke of Welhngton 
resigned office in November 1830, and Lord Grey formed an 
Administration pledged to Reform, she, in common with many 
others, thought that a revolution was at hand. 

On the first of March 1831, the Bill for Parhamentary Re- 
form was introduced into the House of Commons by Lord 
John Russell. It went much farther than had been anticipated. 
Its progress was accompanied by violent scenes within the walls 
of Parhament, by great public agitation without. It was the 
one subject of conversation everywhere, from the peasant's 
cottage to the King's palace. The King favoured a moderate 
measure of reform; the Queen and the Fitzclarences were 
strongly opposed to any, and said so on every possible occasion. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert also expressed herself freely in condemnation 
of the measure, so much so that paragraphs found their way 

407 



4o8 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

into the press. The Morning Post writes, April 14, 1831 : 
"The report that a certain illustrious lady has interfered in the 
arguments on the Reform question, and that in a style by no 
means subdued, proves at any rate that she will have a Will 
of her own." ^ It is curious to contrast Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
freedom of speech on the subject of Pariiamentary Reform, 
which affected her not at all, with her previous reticence on 
CathoHc Emancipation. The following letters to Mrs. Damer 
afford an index to her views : — 

"TiLNEY Street, May 4, 1831. 
"Public affairs are going on sadly. Nothing can be more 
provoking, but though many think we are on the eve of a Revo- 
lution, everything in the great world goes on as usual — balls, 
dinners, and Ascot races; this week I hear is to be very gay. 
As I sent excuses to all the great parties, I never saw the Duke 
of Orleans.^ The day he went away he and his followers sent 
their cards here. I suppose Papa and Mamma desired him to 
call upon me, as he told the Smythes ^ his father said I was one 
of his oldest friends." 

The second reading of the Reform Bill was carried by a 
majority of one, but the Government, having been twice de- 
feated in committee, resolved to appeal to the country, and 
asked the King to dissolve Parhament. The Tories were of 
opinion that the King should do nothing of the kind, but send 
for the Duke of Wellington. However, the King determined to 
follow Lord Grey's advice, and he took the unusual step of 
going down to the House of Lords to dissolve Parliament him- 
self. On going and returning he received a great ovation; the 
crowd greeted him with cries of "Bravo, old Boy!" "Three 
Cheers for the King and Reform." The city was illuminated 
and the country blazed with bonfires. The Queen, who was 
regarded as the heart and soul of the Court faction opposed to 
Reform, was extremely unpopular. One evening, when she 
was returning from a concert, she met with a very hostile re- 

1 This paragraph was also copied into the Brighton papers. 

2 The Duke of Orleans (1810-42) was the eldest son of King Louis Philippe 
and Queen Amelie, and father of the late Comte de Paris. 

^ Mrs. Walter Smythe, sister-in-law of Mrs. Fitzherbert (then a widow), and 
her two daughters. 



THE REFORM BILL 



409 



ception from the mob, who hooted her all the way to St. James's. 
The mob then proceeded to Apsley House, the Duke of Welhng- 
ton's, where they smashed every pane of glass in the windows. 
The General Election throughout the country was attended 
with great excitement. The people demanded "The Bill, the 
whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill," and the candidates who 
pledged themselves to this, were nearly everywhere victorious 
at the polls. The new House of Commons, which assembled 
on June 14, 1831, contained a large majority of members 
pledged to Reform. The Bill was again introduced by Lord 
John Russell, and popular excitement was wrought to the 
highest pitch. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert to the Hon. Mrs. Dawson Darner. 

"TiLNEY Street, August 21, 1831. 

"The town is quiet, but at the smallest signal from Lord 
Grey is ready to rise. We are in a sad state. God knows 
what is to happen. Munster tells me he writes to you every 
other day what passes — he is violently unhappy, and really 
has a great reason to be so. His father [Wilham IV.] is in great 
good spirits; he does everything Lord Grey wishes, and I am 
sorry to say is only occupied with dinners and balls. It is 
quite melancholy ! Tallyrand ^ appears much more active than 
our people. Tallyrand is certainly the cleverest person in 
existence. He is aware of the people he has to deal with, and 
does whatever he likes. The common people say he goes every 
night at twelve o'clock into the Regent's Park to have private 
conversation with the Devil." 

During a truce in the turmoil over the Reform Bill, William 
IV. was crowned. The King was indifferent about the Coro- 
nation; he had already put the crown on his head when he 
dissolved Parliament, saying, "Nobody shall crown me but 
myself." But the Duke of WelHngton and the Duke of Cum- 
berland raised the question in the House of Lords, and said 
that it was a matter of grave constitutional moment. The King 
therefore yielded, and the Coronation took place at Westminster 

1 Prince Talleyrand, the French Ambassador. The Morning Post said of 
him, "Talleyrand is certainly the most extraordinary being of his kind the 
world has produced since the creation." 



410 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Abbey on September 8, 1831, but shorn of many circumstances 
of splendour; the dissatisfied spoke of it as a "half-crownation." 
Mrs. Fitzherbert was in London, but, in accordance with her 
rule of attending no official ceremonies, she did not attend the 
Coronation. Lord Munster wrote an amusing account of the 
ceremony for her edification, from which we quote the follow- 
ing: — 

The Earl of Munster to Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

"September g, 1831. 

"Thank heaven, the Coronation is over! I only arrived in 
town on Monday, and found the Palace and its inmates in a 
glorious bustle. But for the rain, a most ridiculous rehearsal 
had been ordered for Wednesday. The wall separating the. 
King's mews from Buckingham House garden was pulled down, 
and the King was to stand in the garden, and see all the coaches 
and horses and footmen in their state liveries go through this 
absurd and childish rehearsal ! Fortunately, it rained ; for they 
tell me, if the State coach, which weighs seven tons, had once 
got on the wet turf or gravel, it would have so sunk that no 
power under an eighty-horse-power steamer could have drawn 
it back to the stable. The King, however, went over to the 
Abbey to see the locale, and in so doing caught a cold, which 
showed itself in a swelled face. As it was his left cheek, no 
doubt it was ordered providentially, so that he could offer a 
larger surface to his liege Lords when they did their homage.* 

"All London was on the move at six o'clock, and the arrange- 
ments for arriving at the Abbey were excellent, and no trouble 
or difficulty arose throughout the day. I did not leave my 
house till half-past nine, trusting to my crimson and gold 
liveries, which looked magnificent, to make all barriers fly open 
before me. 

"The arrangements in the Abbey were the same as at the 
last Coronation, only there was a second chair for the Queen, 
on a stage a step lower than the King's. About 150 peers and 
70 to 80 peeresses were present. The seats of the latter looked 
very well, like a parterre of tulips — only the Duchess of St. 

1 The King strongly objected to being kissed, especially by the Bishops, and 
ordered that part of the ceremony to be struck out, but the Bishops protested 
en masse, and he had to submit to the ordeal. 




WILLIAM IV. 



THE REFORM BILL 411 

Albans in the front looked like a full-blown peony; the young 
Duchess of Richmond was next to her, making the contrast still 
more remarkable. Lady Clanricarde in front looked well, and 
was seated next to Lady Salisbury. All those peeresses who 
had received their coronets to make honest women of them 
were present, and it was amusing to see the virtuous ladies 
indignant at their neighbourhood. . . . 

"When the peers did homage the Duke of Wellington was 
loudly and spontaneously cheered, which was all very well, as 
the great Captain of the Age, though contrary to etiquette. 
But the silly Whigs made it political by cheering Lord Grey, 
and then some fools cheered Brougham, and then it became 
ridiculous, from the attorneys' clerks and sheriffs' officers who 
had got smuggled into the galleries applauding the Law Lords ! 

"I had not embraced (I find that is the correct expression) 
the King since my birthday, when ten years old, on which occa- 
sion he told me that I was no longer a boy, and that he did not 
like kissing (I beg pardon) — men. He told me when I ' em- 
braced ' him in the Abbey that he was not at all tired. The ser- 
mon of the Bishop of London was good and impressive, and had 
the advantage of only lasting seventeen or eighteen minutes. 

"The scramble for medals was highly indecorous, very like 
schoolboys quarrelling at chuck-farthing and fighting for 
ha'pence. I had left my cocked hat in the King's dressing- 
room, and giving my coronet and robes to one of his pages, I 
jumped on my horse and saw the whole procession on its return. 
It was a fine sight, but one coach-and-six is so like another 
coach-and-six that it is after all but a tame affair. Tens of 
thousands of loyal, alias Reforming, spectators — all very vehe- 
ment, of course. Frederick,^ who, I think foolishly, had charge 
of the procession (which formerly was done by the Head Con- 
stable of Westminster), had arranged it well, but in his anxiety 
to be as fine as possible was nearly killed. He had put a 
Persian bridle on his horse, so heavy with silver that it abso- 
lutely dropped off, and he went along Pall Mall and Charing 
Cross hke Johnnie Gilpin, till fortunately he was stopped 
without an accident." ^ 

• iTLord Frederick Fitzclarence. 
2 This letter, found among Mrs. Fitzherbert's papers, is published here by 
kind permission of the present Earl of Munster. 



^12 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Mrs. Fitzherbert to the Hon. Mrs. Dawson Darner. 

"TiLNEY Street, September 9, 1831. 

"The Coronation by all accounts went off beautifully, and 
everybody seemed pleased. I saw nothing of the procession, 
for I had got cold at the Breakfast at Chiswick last week, 
though we fortunately had a beautiful day. The Duke [of 
Devonshire] was in higher force than ever I have seen him. 
A remarkably good dinner, the illuminations, fireworks, and 
the house and grounds beautifully Ht up. By nine o'clock 
dancing began, and I felt rather tired and came away. There 
was dinner for a hundred guests, and the scene was altogether 
very gay. Since then I have been confined by another attack 
of influenza, and have not been able to leave my house. I have 
had three dinner invitations from the Palace, and have been 
obliged to send excuses. You will see the extraordinary ^ Hst 
of Peers. I understand there are to be fifteen more made to 
get a majority in the House of Lords, Several have refused 
accepting this dignity, and several that ought not to be peers, 
from birth or situation, are very anxious to be created. This 
is lowering the peerage sadly. You will read all the names in 
the papers. My friend the Landgravine ^ has gone to Homburg. 
Both she and the Duke of Cambridge left town in the afternoon." 

Soon after the Coronation the public interest was again 
absorbed in the Reform Bill. The measure passed the House 
of Commons on September 22 by a large majority, and was 
sent up to the House of Lords, where it was fiercely debated 
for many nights. The struggle reached its cHmax in the early 
hours of the morning of October 8, 1831, when, after an all- 
night debate, the Bill was thrown out by forty-one votes. The 
action of the House of Lords was followed by riots and dis- 
turbances in London, and throughout the country. The King, 
who was alarmed at the growth of the democratic spirit, sug- 
gested that the Bill should be remodelled, but the Government 
was determined to carry it as it stood, and this change in the 

1 The Coronation peers, created on the nomination of Lord Grey, were 
Whigs, and pledged to vote for the Reform Bill in the Upper House. 

2 Princess Elizabeth, daughter of George III., who married in 1818 the 
Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg. She died in 1840. 



THE REFORM BILL 413 

King's views led the Ministers to seek a reason for it, which 
they found in the royal household. The Queen's hostility to 
Reform was notorious, and she, it was said, was influenced by 
her chamberlain, Lord Howe, whom the King had already 
rebuked for "chattering about the Reform Bill." Lord Grey 
therefore requested the dismissal of Lord Howe. The King 
agreed, but the Queen was highly indignant, and refused to 
appoint a successor to her chamberlain. Lord Howe, though 
he had to resign officially, determined, with the Queen's per- 
mission, to continue in office unofficially. This unwise action 
gave rise to many false and absurd rumours. The Times, 
though it did not repeat the worst of these, spoke of the "do- 
mestic importunity" to which the King was subjected, in order 
to turn him from his political views, and it reminded the Queen 
that "a foreigner was no very competent judge of English 
liberties, and that politics were not the proper field for female 
enterprise or exertion." 

Mrs. Fitzherbert, who had also received a hint from an 
exalted Personage not to "chatter so much about the Reform 
Bill," had now perforce to keep silence, and could only relieve 
her feelings on paper. We quote the following from her letters 
to Mrs. Damer through the autumn : — 

"TiLNEY Street, October 18, 1831. 
"I should have written before, but really I have been so 
much worried and alarmed by all the riots, that have been 
going on here for three days (since the Lords threw out the 
Bill), that I could settle to nothing. The alarm everybody is 
in at what may happen is sadly increased by the accounts from 
different parts of the country. It is so similar to what passed 
in France that it is really quite frightful} Your friend Lady 
Georgiana [Bathurst] is for setting off for China, and I believe 
if it was not the sea voyage I should like to go there too, or 
anywhere, to have peace and quiet. The newspapers will 
inform you better than I can do on the state of poKtics. Nothing 
will move the Ministers, and no one wishes to be put in their 
place. I trust that, as they have been the cause of all these 

1 At Nottingham the Castle was burnt by the mob; at Derby the jail was 
forced open; at Bristol the riots lasted for several days, and many public build- 
ings were burned. Ireland was also in a very disturbed state. 



414 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

disagreeable and frightful occurrences, they will endeavour to 
put an end to them; but I fear it has gone too far for us to expect 
much good. The People are now our Sovereign, Ministers, &c,, 
and their demands seem to be the order of the day. ... I 
dined yesterday at the Palace, and am to meet the Grand 
Duchess ^ there on Thursday ; she is going to Petersburg in a 
few days. There is great distress amongst them all at Court 
at Lord Grey's having insisted on turning out Lord Howe.^ 
He was a great favourite with every one, and the conduct is 
looked upon as very harsh and tyrannical, and it will never be 
forgotten, particularly as the King made a point of not having 
the Queen's household disturbed, saying that Ministers might 
do what they pleased with his establishment, which he is forced 
to alter every day." 

"TiLNEY Street, October 26, 1831. 

"I wrote to you before about Lord Howe having been turned 
out of his place. The Ministers, I believe, are sorry now for 
what they have done, having brought a host of enemies upon 
themselves. The manner in which it was done was most 
insulting and ungentleman-like, and will never be forgotten or 
forgiven. The Queen has always received the Ministers with 
every mark of kindness and attention. She feels herself, and 
with good reason, uncommonly insulted and ill-treated, and 
though she is obliged to receive them, she now takes no notice 
of them, and will not speak to any of the set. It is very un- 
fortunate, for besides ill-treating her, it is exposing the King 
to annoyance, who is made most uncomfortable; in short it has 
set the whole family in an uproar. God knows how it is all to 
end! The King is so entirely at Lord Grey's orders that he 
has no will of his own. 

''I met the whole of the Grey family at the Palace the 
other day, and they were particularly civil to me. I was rather 
disappointed with the Grand Duchess, I had heard so much of 
her beauty; she is certainly pretty and pleasant, and covered 
with the finest diamonds I ever saw, far superior to our 
Queen's." 

1 The Grand Duchess Helena of Russia. 

2 Richard William Pend Curzon Howe, first Earl Howe, was chamberlain 
to the Queen, and was supposed to influence her in her opposition to the Reform 
Bill. He was forced to resign office by the Government. 



THE REFORM BILL 415 

"TiLNEY Street, November 3, 183 1. 

" Everything is going on so wretchedly here in London that 
I cannot make up my mind what to do, and at Brighton it is 
worse. Much as I like Brighton, I feel uncomfortable with 
respect to the Royalties. That happy family at the PaviHon 
last year are very different now to what they were then. I 
shall take a hint from what Lord Glengall tells me and, instead 
of talking, put a seal on my lips and keep all my thoughts to 
myself. I am engaged to dine there every Sunday during their 
stay at Brighton, which they told me was not to prevent my 
dining there the other days of the week. They are all very 
kind to me, and I feel very grateful, but you know what it 
generally is. There is a terrible squabble going on between 
Lords Howe and ErroU,^ and the whole family are in a sad state 
of confusion and quarrel. The history is too long for a letter, 
and I daresay you will hear of it in Paris. The horrid Radicals 
in Brighton would not allow fireworks or illuminations for the 
King's arrival,, which has always been done. Between you and 
me, I shall remain here a little longer, and see what is to happen 
at Brighton. I am grieved beyond words at the place; being 
one of the oldest inhabitants, I cannot bear to see it in the 
state it is in now." 

"Brighton, November 21, 183 1.2 

"The King has no will or power of his own. Lord Grey 
governs everything. I confess I am of Munster's opinion, that 
an evil hour is near approaching. I think a revolution is very 
soon at hand, if not already begun.^ . . . The Queen has been 
very ill, and has been confined to her room for the last fortnight. 
To-day she dines with us for the first time. I dined yesterday 
at the Pavilion, forty in number. Lord Brougham * was one 
of the party, so what you have heard about the King's not being 
allowed to give dinners is not true. The King is ordered up to 

1 William George, seventeenth Earl of Erroll. He had married, 1820, Lady 
Elizabeth Fitzclarence, daughter of William IV. 

2 Mrs. Fitzherbert went to Brighton on November 19. 

3 She was not alone in this opinion. The Duke of Wellington and other 
Tory leaders expressed similar views. The Queen was convinced that a revo- 
lution was imminent, and even the King wrote to Lord Grey, " The times are 
awful." 

* Henry, first Lord Brougham, then Lord Chancellor. He conducted the 
defence of Queen Caroline. His views on the subject of Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
marriage to George IV. have already been explained. 



4i6 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

London to-morrow to arrange something the Ministers want 
him to do." 

Mrs. Fitzherbert spent Christmas and the New Year at 
Brighton; the Damers and the Jerninghams came to stay with 
her, and she dined frequently at the Pavilion, but she gave no 
parties this year; in truth there was very little entertaining 
anywhere. The country was still in a most disturbed state, 
and to add to the general misery and confusion, England was 
visited for the first time by the Asiatic cholera. The Whig 
Government held its own, and in March 1832 the Reform Bill 
again passed through the House of Commons. The Lords 
now showed a disposition to yield, but they hoped to mutilate 
the Bill in committee. Lord Grey was determined that the 
Bill should not be seriously altered, and he proposed that the 
King should create a sufficient number of peers to insure its 
passing the House of Lords. The King demurred to this 
drastic measure, and through a court intrigue the Ministers 
offered their resignations, which were accepted by the King, 
who sent for the Duke of Wellington. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert to the Hon. Mrs. Dawson Darner, 
Paris. 

"TiLNEY Street, May 11, 1832. 
"The King has refused to make more peers. Everybody 
is going down to the Commons to see what is to be done. The 
Master of the Rolls says all is over, but I still have hopes. 
The Grey party say they cannot form an Administration ; the 
Opposition must come in. If this is the case I hope Peel will 
come in, but I doubt whether the Duke will accept.^ I hope 
the King will be staunch about the peerage. Lord Grey says 
that he must have peers, or a paper signed that the Opposition 
will not go against the Bill. God knows what will be done, 
but from what I have heard the Opposition are annoyed at the 
resignation of the Ministry, none of them wishing to replace 
them in the state the country has been put into. No one has 
yet been appointed, but members are named. The confusion 

> Her forecast was quite wrong. The Duke made the attempt to form an 
Administration, but Peel refused to have anything to do with it. 



THE REFORM BILL 417 

is very great, particularly as cards of invitation from the Min- 
isters for the great dinners on the Birthday were issued, which 
must now be put aside. The Duke of Wehington's ball is to 
take place. Very properly, he invited all the Ministers and 
their wives to meet the King, a very comical proceeding under 
the circumstances." 

"TiLNEY Street, May 15, 1832. 
"I wish this odious Reform Bill was over one way or another. 
Everybody is worn out with it. After having sent three excuses 
to the Palace, not being very well, I felt bound not to send a 
fourth, and I dined there on Sunday, and really had a very 
pleasant party. The King was in great force, and all the rest 
in high good-humour; many inquiries after 'Minney,' for none 
of them call you by any other name. . . , God bless you, 
Dearest; tell the dear children that I am dehghted at their 
praying for me. I am sure it will do me good." 

The King was compelled to yield to circumstances. The 
Duke of Welhngton and Lord Lyndhurst tried in vain to form 
an Administration. The King then recalled Lord Grey, and 
agreed to create the number of peers necessary to carry the 
Bill, calHng first up to the House of Lords peers' eldest sons. 
This extreme measure, however, proved unnecessary, for the 
Duke of Welhngton and about a hundred Tory peers absented 
themselves under protest. The Reform Bill was carried through 
the House of Lords, and received the royal assent June i, 1832. 
Its passing into law may be regarded as coincident with the 
passing of the Georgian Era. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

THE BURNING OF THE LETTERS 
(1833) 

Early in 1833 the Duke of Wellington revived the question 
of the correspondence between George IV. and Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
which had lain in abeyance since the settlement of her annuity 
after the late King's death. The Duke had not pressed the 
matter at the time, because of the evident reluctance of Mrs. 
Fitzherbert to enter into any discussion on the subject, and the 
desire of William IV. to meet her wishes in this as in all things. 
Soon after followed the Duke's resignation of office, and then 
came the agitation over the Reform Bill, which had absorbed 
the Duke's energies for the last two years. Now, however, that 
the Reform Bill had passed into law, and the Whigs had a 
majority in Parliament so overwhelming that it seemed Hkely 
the Tories would be out of power for a generation, the Duke 
had leisure to turn his attention to other affairs, and the first 
matter to claim his attention was the disposition of these papers. 
As executor of the late King he had a great number of Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's letters to George IV.; he knew she had preserved 
the late King's letters, and that she also had many other docu- 
ments of an important nature; he felt that a settlement of the 
matter should no longer be delayed. Mrs. Fitzherbert was now 
in her seventy-seventh year, and through the winter of 1832-33 
her health had been failing; she might die at any moment, no 
one quite knew to whom she would leave her property, and 
these important and secret papers might fall into the hands of 
persons who would make indiscreet use of them. After the 
late King's death she had asked that her letters to him should 
be returned to her; she feared that some of them had fallen 
into the hands of Sir William Knighton. The Duke on his 
side said he could not give them up to her unless she was pre- 
pared to hand over all the documents in her possession which 

418 



BURNING OF THE LETTERS 419 

related to George IV. Mrs. Fitzherbert demurred, on the 
ground that she wished to retain such papers as she deemed 
necessary for the vindication of her honour at some future time, 
and so the matter dropped. 

The Duke now revived it; he had a talk with Mrs. Dawson 
Damer on the subject, whom he met frequently in London. 
He told her he had a proposal to make to Mrs. Fitzherbert 
concerning these papers, and asked her to find out when it 
would be agreeable for Mrs. Fitzherbert to discuss the matter 
with him. Mrs. Dawson Damer wrote to Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
who was then at Brighton, and told her what the Duke said. 
In reply Mrs. Fitzherbert wrote : — 

"Brighton, March 3, 1833, 
"Many thanks, dear Minney, for your letter this morning. 
The account you give of your conversation with the Duke of 
Wellington makes me rather nervous, and I should really feel 
more obliged to you than I can express if you would desire him 
not to send me the papers he alludes to. I had rather defer 
their perusal till I go to town, which I shall do very soon. 
Pray express my thanks to him; he has always upon this subject 
shown much feeling and good nature to me. I am not very well, 
and anything upon the subject always annoys me very much." 

On March 14, Mrs. Fitzherbert came up to London from 
Brighton. She then saw the Duke, and without pledging herself 
to any definite proposal, she agreed to appoint trustees who 
would act for her in the matter. She stipulated also that, 
before she could do anything in the business, the Duke on his 
part must promise that all her letters to George IV. should be 
given up, and that Knighton should not be allowed to retain 
any one of them. The Duke assured her that this should be 
done. She also reiterated her determination to retain such 
documents as she deemed necessary to prove the fact of her 
marriage. To this the Duke agreed conditionally. After some 
dehberation Mrs. Fitzherbert then asked Lord Albemarle ^ and 
Lord Stourton ^ to act for her in this matter, and they expressed 

1 The fourth Earl of Albemarle (1772-184Q). He had married a daughter 
of Mrs. Fitzherbert's great friend, Lady de Clifford. 

2 The seventeenth Lord Stourton, whose mother {nee the Hon. Mary Lang- 
dale) was Mrs. Fitzherbert's first cousin. 



420 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

themselves willing. Lord Albemarle was an old and trusted 
friend, and Lord Stourton was her second cousin, a Roman 
Catholic, and thus allied to her by ties of blood and religion. 
To Lord Albemarle she left the negotiation of the business with 
the Duke of Wellington, These negotiations took some time. 
Mrs. Fitzherbert went down to Brighton for Easter, came back 
to London in May, and remained there until everything was 
settled. The chief difficulty arose over the papers which Mrs. 
Fitzherbert wished to keep. The Duke of Wellington would 
have preferred that everything should be destroyed, but Mrs. 
Fitzherbert was determined that these should be preserved. 
Appeal was made to William IV., who overruled the Duke, 
and in the end a compromise was arrived at. Mrs. Fitzherbert 
was to preserve such papers as she deemed necessary to prove 
her marriage and guard her interests, but these papers were 
to be placed in the safe custody of Coutts's Bank under cer- 
tain conditions ; what these conditions were the following will 
show: — 

The Earl of Albemarle to Lord Stourton. 

"The Stud House, August lo, 1833. 
"Dear Lord Stourton, — I have much pleasure in in- 
forming you, that our business is drawing towards a satisfactory 
termination. After two interviews with the Duke of Wellington, 
we have agreed, subject to your approbation, to the proposed 
terms, which I direct to you under another cover. Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert is, I believe, perfectly satisfied. I have had the honour 
of submitting to the King a full statement of the whole case, 
and his Majesty gives his cordial sanction to the proposed 
arrangement. It, however, waits for your approval ; and should 
anything occur to you as neglected, or incautiously guarded, 
have the goodness to let me know. The Duke of Wellington 
takes it upon his own responsibility that Sir William Knighton 
shall retain no papers whatever, and the word knowledge in the 
proposal does not mean any restraint over our disposition of 
the papers retained, but merely that the other party shall not 
be taken by surprise by our publication of them without notice. 
I think it a word useless to be inserted, but of no conse- 
quence. 



BURNING OF THE LETTERS 421 

"I have been commanded by the King to invite Mrs. 
Fitzherbert to dine with him on Saturday, the 24th, and also 
your Lordship, to meet her on that day, should it happen 
you are in London. Believe me, dear Lord Stourton, sincerely 

y^^"^^' "Albemarle. 

"Correct Copy. — Stourton." 

[Inclosure.] 

"It is agreed by Mrs. Fitzherbert on the one part, and the 
executors of the late King on the other, that each will destroy 
all papers and documents (with the exception of those hereafter 
mentioned) in the possession of either, signed or written by 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, or by her directions, or signed or written by 
the late King, when Prince of Wales, or King of Great Britain, 
&c., or by his command. The two parties agree, that in any 
case any papers signed or written by either of the parties above 
mentioned, or by the authority of either, shall ever hereafter 
be found among the papers of the other, they shall be given up 
as the property of the writer or signer thereof, or of the person 
who authorised the writing or signature thereof. Such papers 
and documents as Mrs. Fitzherbert shall wish to keep, shall be 
sealed up in a cover under the seals of the Duke of Wellington 
and Sir William Knighton, and of the Earl of Albemarle and 
Lord Stourton, and be lodged in the bank of Messrs. Coutts, 
at the disposition of the Earl of Albemarle and of Lord Stourton. 
The seals not to be broken without the knowledge of the Duke 
of Wellington and Sir William Knighton. It is understood 
that no copy of any paper or document is to be taken or kept 
on either side." 

Here follows a list of the papers and documents retained by 
Mrs. Fitzherbert: — 

1. The Mortgage on the Palace at Brighton. 

2. The Certificate of the Marriage, dated December 21 (sic), 

1785. 

3. Letter from the late King, relating to the Marriage, signed 

(George IV.). 

4. Will written by the late King (George IV.). 



422 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

5. Memorandum written by Mrs. Fitzherbert, attached to a 
letter written by the clergyman who performed the 
Marriage Ceremony. 
Correct copy. — Stourton. 

An exact copy. Witness my hand, 

Stourton.^ 

Lord Stourton to the Earl of Albemarle. 

"I entirely concur in the proposal transmitted to me by the 
Earl of Albemarle, and give my sanction to 'any mode that 
Mrs. Fitzherbert and Lord Albemarle may deem expedient for 
carrying it into effect. I will afhx my seal to the parcel contain- 
ing the reserved documents on my return to town, and I now 
authorise the Earl of Albemarle, with the concurrence of Mrs^ 
Fitzherbert, to destroy the rest. I would only observe, that 
'the knowledge^ of the Duke of Wellington and Sir William 
Knighton, Bart., is not understood to make them of necessity 
consenting parties to the inspection of the reserved papers to be 
deposited at Coutts's Banking-house. . . ." ^ 

On August 24, 1833, the Duke of Welhngton and Lord 
Albemarle met by appointment in the drawing-room of Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's house in Tilney Street.^ The Duke brought with 
him all Mrs. Fitzherbei;t's letters to George IV., and she on 
her side produced all the late King's letters to her, with the 
exception of the papers which it had been agreed that she should 
preserve. She had written a list of them (the hst already 
specified), and had made them up in a closed packet, to which 
the Duke of Welhngton and Lord Albemarle then affixed their 
signatures and seals. Mrs. Fitzherbert went through the papers 
brought by the Duke, and satisfied herself that all her letters to 
the King were among them, especially those which she feared 
had fallen into the hands of Sir Wihiam Knighton. She then 
retired, and left the work of the burning of the papers to be 
carried out by the Duke of Wellington and Lord Albemarle. 
This took a long time. 

1 Langdale's "Memoirs," pp. 84-87. ^Xangdale's "Memoirs," p. 88. 

3 Lord Stourton was ill in the country and coidd not attend. Sir William 
Knighton, Mrs. Fitzherbert declined to meet. 



BURNING OF THE LETTERS 423 

The sixth Earl of Albemarle writes in his memoirs: "Some 
idea of the mass of manuscripts committed to the flames may 
be formed by an expression of the Duke to -my father after 
several hours' burning: 'I think, my Lord, we had better hold 
our hand for a while, or we shall set the old woman's chimney 
on fire." ^ The chimney was nearly set on fire, and a smoke 
stain on the white marble mantel-piece, which may still be seen 
in the drawing-room of the house in Tilney Street, is said to 
have been caused by the conflagration. Mrs. Fitzherbert 
afterwards told Mrs. Darner that "the room smelt of burnt 
paper and sealing-wax for weeks afterwards." 

Directly the burning was over, the same day, Lord Albe- 
marle went down to Coutts's Bank and deposited the packet. 
He writes the next day to Lord Stourton : — 

The Earl of Albemarle to Lord Stourton. 

"The Stud House [Hampton Court], 
August 25 [1833]. 

"Dear Lord Stourton, — The difficulty of finding the 
Duke of Wellington unengaged, and that alone, has caused the 
delay. 

"I am happy in being able to inform you, that the business 
is now completely arranged, and, I beheve I may add, to the 
satisfaction of all parties. Yesterday, the Duke of Welfington, 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, and myself, were busily engaged in burning 
all the letters on either side, with the exception of those which 
Mrs. Fitzherbert chose to keep. It would be unjust to the 
Duke of Wellington, if I did not say that his conduct was 
gentlemanly and friendly to Mrs. Fitzherbert in every respect, 
and I know that she is perfectly satisfied. 

"After our great work of burning was over, I went to 
Messrs. Coutts's, and delivered into Mr. Dickie's ^ hands (by 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's desire) the parcel containing the documents 
and letters reserved, signed and sealed by the Duke of Welling- 
ton and myself. Whenever your Lordship returns to London 
you will have the goodness to add your name and seal. 

1 '' Fifty Years of my Life," by George Thomas, Earl of Albemarle. London, 
1876. 

2 Mr. Dickie was the clerk who for years superintended George IV.'s banking 
account. No doubt he performed a similar ofl&ce for Mrs. Fitzherbert. 



424 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

"It is satisfactory to me to add, that amongst the papers 
brought and destroyed by the Duke of WelHngton, were the 
letters which Mrs. Fitzherbert had missed, and which she 
supposed to have been obtained by Sir Wilham Knighton, and 
kept by him. I believe the letters were of no consequence, but 
I clearly saw that this circumstance was an additional relief to 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's mind. I am sure we both cordially agree 
in the hope, and I trust I may add in the confidence, that her 
anxiety on this most dehcate subject may now be entirely set 
at rest. She expresses most feelingly her gratitude to your 
Lordship for your useful and zealous assistance. BeHeve me, 
dear Lord Stourton, sincerely yours, "Albemarle." 

In reply Lord Stourton wrote : — 

"I think Mrs. Fitzherbert retains everything essential to 
the protection of her character and property, and it must be a 
sohd consolation that his Majesty has been graciously pleased 
to interest himself in and to sanction an arrangement which, 
while it protects the parties, shelters them from unnecessary 
pubhcity." ^ 

So the matter rested. Mrs. Fitzherbert had placed these 
documents in safe keeping for a specific purpose, namely the 
vindication of her character at some future time. When and 
how that was to be accomplished she had not yet determined, 
but she had reserved the right to withdraw her papers from 
Coutts's Bank when she should think fit. It was a great relief 
to her mind that the matter was so far settled, for the agitation 
and anxiety occasioned by the controversy over her papers had 
made her very unwell; she broke down completely, and for 
nearly five weeks was unable to leave her room. She wrote to 
Lord Stourton excusing herself from seeing him on that account, 
and added : — 

"I long to talk it [the matter of the papers] over with you 
whenever it pleases God that I may again have the happiness 
of seeing you. My medical advisers tell me that the best 
chance I have is to go into another climate, and I propose 
setting out in a day or two for Aix-la-Chapelle. My mind 
being more at ease, I trust I may enjoy a little better health 

1 Langdale's "Memoirs," pp. 89-90. 



BURNING OF THE LETTERS 425 

than I have done. I cannot expect at my time of Hfe to be free 
of all ailments, and I must submit, and be thankful for the 
many kind friends I have met with, who support me in all my 
difficulties. To none do I feel more indebted than to yourself." ^ 
Mrs. Fitzherbert went to Aix-la-Chapelle in October, and 
the waters did her so much good that she determined to return 
there in the spring. Her affairs were now settled, and she had 
nothing to call her back to England, so she arranged to winter 
in Paris. She lent her house at Brighton to her friend. Lady 
Downshire, and she took an apartment in Paris near the Damers, 
who were then residing there. At that time there was a con- 
siderable English element in fashionable Parisian society, and 
several EngHsh noble families went there every year for a lengthy 
sojourn. This was partly due to the English tastes of King 
Louis Philippe. Mrs. Fitzherbert had many friends in Paris, 
both French and English, and her stay there was made pleasant 
for her by the King and Queen. She writes : — 

Mrs. Fitzherbert to Lord Stourton. 

"Paris, December 7, 1833. 
"... I have taken a very quiet apartment, and live very 
retired, seeing occasionally some friends. The Duke of Orleans 
came to see me the moment I arrived, with a thousand kind 
messages from the King and Queen, desiring me to go to them, 
which I accordingly have done. Nothing could exceed the 
kindness of their reception of me: they are both old acquaint- 
ances of mine. I have declined all their fetes, and they have 
given me a general invitation to go there every evening whenever 
I Hke it, in a quiet family way, which suits me very much. 
I really think I never saw a more amiable family: so happy and 
so united. The King seems worn to death with business all 
day and all night; but he assured me that things were going on 
much better, though there were a great many wicked people 
trying to make mischief. I told him that I was afraid he had 
sent many of them to make disturbances in our country.^ He 

1 Mrs. Fitzherbert to Lord Stourton; undated [end of September 1833]. 
Langdale's "Memoirs," p. 107. 

2 Some of the French emigres who came to England at this time were very 
undesirable, and the Alien Act had to be put into force. 



426 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

is very much attached to England, and hopes we shall always 
be friends." ^ 

Mrs. Fitzherbert was not forgotten by her friends in England 
while she was abroad, as the following letter will show : — 

H.R.H. the Princess Augusta"^ to Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

"Brighton, January i, 1834. 

"It was but yesterday, my dearest Mrs. Fitzherbert, that 
I was talking of you, and saying how truly sorry I was that 
you were not here; and this morning I had the great pleasure 
of receiving your most kind letter. 

"It was a pleasure indeed, and I thank God you have given 
me so good an account of your health. I shall be reconciled 
to your being so far away, and for so long, if it is for your 
good; otherwise we all lament your absence at this house [the 
PaviHon]. . . . TravelHng must be very dangerous, particu- 
larly as the changes in the weather are so extraordinary. I am 
rejoiced to be able to give you very favourable reports of dearest 
William's and the Queen's health. They are both very much 
obhged to you for your kind message, and beg you to be assured 
of their sincere regard and affection for your excellent self. I 
have been confined to the house for some time by a very bad 
cold. Sir Henry Halford was here at the time I was at the 
worst, but I hope in a few days to get out. Brighton is just 
now very gay with Christmas entertainments and balls, but I 
have seen nothing of that sort. My sister Mary ^ and the King 
have been with me to-day after their drive. Lady Down- 
shire's * family are very comfortable settled in your house; poor 
Lord [illegible] is dreadfully altered in looks, but I think better 
in health than last year. The sons are all about now, which is 
company and great help to her. 

"Accept my kindest wishes for your health, and that you 

1 Mrs. Fitzherbert to Lord Stourton. Langdale's "Memoirs," pp. 109, no. 

2 The Princess Augusta Sophia, daughter of George III. (1768-1840). This 
Princess never married. 

3 H.R.H. the Princess Mary, daughter of George III., married 1816 her 
cousin, William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester. She died 1857. 

^ Maria, daughter of the first Earl of Plymouth, married 181 1 Arthur, third 
Marquess of Downshire. She had three sons and three daughters. The 
Downshires were great friends of Mrs. Fitzherbert. 




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BURNING OF THE LETTERS 427 

may return to England in the Spring, when none of your friends 
will be happier to see you than, my dearest Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
your very sincere and attached friend, ^ . ,, 

While Mrs. Fitzherbert was in Paris she became much 
interested in a Mademoiselle Nisot, a young French lady of 
good family, but very poor, who supported herself by giving 
singing lessons. Mrs. Fitzherbert was anxious to help her, 
but she did not know how to do so without wounding her 
amour propre. So we find this old lady of seventy-eight pro- 
posing that she should take singing lessons from her protegee. 
The letter in which she proposes this shows her impulsive 
kindness of heart, and her delicate consideration for the feelings 
of the young girl whom she wishes to aid. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert to Mademoiselle Nisot.^ 

"Paris, May — , 1834. 

"Dear Mademoiselle, — I hope you got home safely, 
and that your cold is no worse. Though shght, it has troubled 
me because of the trouble it causes you. Do not wonder when 
I tell you my anxiety arises from the interest I take in you. 
Perhaps you will think me very bold (bien hardie) to tell you 
this so soon, perhaps you will disbelieve me, but there is a 
charm about you I cannot define, and it interests me in you 
not as an acquaintance of a few days only, but as one whom 
I have known and liked for a long time. You will say, or you 
will think, that it is my character to be like this, but you will 
be mistaken. I am, on the contrary, very slow in attaching 
myself to people, and I have rarely met in life any one who 
arouses my sympathy as you do. 

"I hope, therefore, on my return from the Waters [Aix-la- 
Chapelle] that I shall see you sometimes, when you can spare 
yourself from the society of those friends who have claims on 
your friendship. In any case I shall have the pleasure of seeing 
you, for I wish, really, to become your pupil, and I shall win 

1 This letter was lent me by Dr. Chepmell, sometime physician to the Empress 
Eugenie, who attended Mdlle. Nisot in her old age, and to whom she gave this 
letter. It is written in French, of which I give a translation. Mdlle. Nisot at 
one time gave singing lessons to the Empress Eugenie. 



428 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

your kindness to me, by the pains which I shall take to save 
you trouble. Perhaps you could arrange to fix a time a little 
later than nine o'clock in the morning, for though I wish to do 
everything to suit your convenience, I could not promise often 
to take a lesson at that hour. Though I appear to be in perfect 
health, I am, alas! often, and even very often, a great sufferer. 
At such times I sleep very badly; sometimes it is only towards 
six o'clock in the morning that I fall asleep for two or three 
hours, and it is a fixed rule that I am not to be awakened until 
I ring, or, to express myself more clearly, it is by my doctors' 
orders, because otherwise my nerves suffer. 

"I am looking forward to Le Pre aux Clercs, and if my 
friend does not give me the same places in the loge as I had 
yesterday, I will take tickets, and so give myself the pleasure 
of enabling you to hear that divine opera as a little remembrance 
of me. I am sending you some currant-and-raspberry syrup 
to soothe your cough, and shall be only too happy if I can cure 
it. In return I remind you of your promise to let me hear 
your sweet voice when you are well again. 

"Believe me to remain, with kindest regards, yours, 

"M. FiTZHERBERT." 

A further interesting reminiscence of Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
■sojourn in Paris has been told me by the Dowager Countess 
Man vers, who now resides at No. 6 Tilney Street — Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's old house. Lady Man vers told me recently: "I 
remember seeing Mrs. Fitzherbert in Paris in the thirties. 
She came to call on my mother, the Duchesse ,de Coligny, to 
whom she talked much about the Orleans princes and princesses, 
whom they both knew very well. I remember her as being a 
very pretty old lady, with a bright, animated manner. She 
shook hands with me and I made my reverence. I don't re- 
member any more than that, for in those days children were 
sent out of the room by their elders." 

Mrs. Fitzherbert stayed in Paris until June, and then made 
another visit to Aix-la-Chapelle. She again derived great 
benefit from the waters, and wrote that she was "wonderfully 
better." She determined to go to Spa and then to Brussels 
before returning to Paris. 



BURNING OF THE LETTERS 429 

Mrs. Fitzherbert to the Hon. Mrs. Dawson Darner. 

"Spa, August 12, 1834. 

"I left Aix on the 4th and arrived safely here. I find this 
place in every respect so much better that I should not have 
known it again had I not been told it was Spa. I was delighted 
to quit Aix ; the violent heat and stench of the town were dread- 
ful, besides tremendous storms of thunder and hghtning which 
we had every day. The air of this place to me is quite refresh- 
ing, and I mean to stay till the end of the week and then proceed 
to Brussels for a few days. I am at the Hotel de Flandres, 
very good, and if George were here, even he would not be able 
to find fault with the living. It is much better than any I 
have had since I left the Hotel Bristol. 

" P.S. —August 12. A melancholy and memorable recol- 
lection." ^ 

"Aix-la-Chapelle, August 22, 1834. 

"You will be surprised, my dear Minney, to receive a letter 
from me at this place, but I have returned here to take a few 
more draughts of the water. I meant to proceed from Spa to 
Brussels, but was overcome by the intense heat of the weather, 
and for three or four days not able to move, so that it took 
away all the advantages received during my stay here. I saw 
Dr. Newbolt, whom you must remember last autumn at Brus- 
sels, and who is a sensible person; he desired me to return 
again here, and hoped that a week or ten days would restore 
me, and remove the debihty the heat of the weather had occa- 
sioned. I have followed his advice with great reluctance, but 
I really was not able to proceed on my journey, and as I was 
near Aix I thought I had better agree to his proposal. I am 
drinking away as fast as I can, but I have not attempted bathing, 
which certainly did not agree with me, but the waters have, 
and I hope now will have their usual good effect upon me, for 
really when I went to Spa I was wonderfully well. I was so 
surprised the other evening, when my door opened, to see 
George's brother^ make his appearance. I really thought at 
first it was himself, they are so much alike. He dined with 

1 George IV.'s birthday. 

2 This must have been the Hon. Lionel Charles Dawson, fourth son of the 
first Earl of Portarlington, younger brother of Colonel Dawson Damer. 



430 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

me ; he is gone with a party into the country to-day, but returns 
to-morrow, when I hope he will eat his soup with me. 

"I could not get the house I had before, it was engaged, 
and Dremel has behaved so ill to me I would not return to him. 
When we meet I will tell you all about it. I am in a very good 
lodging opposite the Redout — very civil people, and I am 
very comfortable, but I hate this place so much that nothing 
but absolute necessity should have brought me here again. . . . 
I wish I could make myself some years younger and my health 
better; I should then have much pleasure in joining you any- 
where you and George might propose, but alas! mes beaux 
jours sont passes, and I must make up my mind to my arm- 
chair and my fireside. I am not fit for anything else." 



CHAPTER XXXII 

REST 
(1834-1837) 

Mrs Fitzherbert returned to England in September, after 
nearly a year's absence. She went from Aix-la-Chapelle to 
Paris, and after staying there a few days travelled by way of 
Calais-Dover to London — a long and fatiguing journey for an 
old lady of seventy-eight, when we remember at that time 
railways were unknown. But she seemed none the worse for 
it, for she writes: — ■ 

To Colonel the Hon. George Dawson Darner, 
Versailles, 

"TiLNEY Street, September 30, 1834. 
"Many thanks, my dear George, for your letter, which I 
received two days ago. I have suffered so much from the 
chmate since I came here ten days since that it makes me quite 
ill; the constant damp and fogs annoy me beyond anything; 
it is impossible to see even the Park wall out of my windows, 
and I am quite suffocated. To-morrow I take my. departure, 
and heartily glad shall I be to turn my back on the odious town. 
I am going for a few days to Brighton, and thence to the 
Bathursts,^ and to the Cravens,^ who are quite estabhshed at 
Brambridge. London is empty, and the few people I have 
seen are all in a fright at the state of affairs. I don't wonder 
at it, for I fear this country is in a sad state. The King came 
to town two days after my arrival, and sent to me to go to him, 

1 Sir Frederick Harvey Bathurst, Bart., had married Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
niece, Louisa Mary, elder daughter of the late Mr. Walter Smythe, 

2 The Hon. George Augustus Craven had married Mrs. Fitzherbert's niece 
Charlotte Georgiana Harriott, younger daughter of the late Mr. Walter Smythe. 
They lived at Brambridge, Mrs. Fitzherbert's old home. Mr. Craven died in 
1836. 

431 



432 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

but it so happened I had neither carriages nor horses. Lord 
Albemarle was ordered to send one of his Majesty's carriages, 
and of course I went. Nothing could equal his kind, and I 
must say, affectionate reception of me, and after I had passed 
some time with him he said, 'I have had something made for 
you, but I did not want to send it to you whilst you remained 
on the Continent.' Then he produced a pair of very handsome 
diamond bracelets. The value was nothing to me, but the 
kind manner that accompanied it was very flattering. I have 
shown them to everybody as the first and only present he ever 
gave me. 

"I wrote to Minney the day after I arrived here, to tell her 
what a fortunate voyage I had across the water. I enclose a 
note for dear little Blanche, for I have had so much to do, I 
have never had time to write to her, and I know, having sent 
a letter to little Minney,^ I shall be in disgrace if I don't do the 
same to her. You will hear all that is going on here better 
from the English now at Paris than I can inform you. I will 
therefore bid you farewell, with a thousand kind loves to dear 
Minney. Ever "affectionately yours, uyr 77 xj »» 

Mrs. Fitzherbert went down to Brighton in October, where, 
except for a short visit which she paid to her niece Lady Bathurst, 
she remained until April 1835. She continued in good health 
throughout the winter. The only letter we find worth quoting 
during this period is one she wrote to Colonel Damer; it shows 
that her keen interest in politics was unabated. She enclosed 
a copy of Peel's famous address to the electors of Tamworth, 
in which he said, "I consider the Reform Bill to be a final and 
irrevocable settlement of a great constitutional question — a 
settlement which no friend to the peace and welfare of this 
country would attempt to disturb either by direct or insidious 
means." Mrs. Fitzherbert wrote, December 16, 1834: "I can- 
not resist sending you the enclosed, which in my humble opinion 
is one of the cleverest productions ever written. I hope you 
will be as much delighted with it as everybody here is. The 
Whigs are outrageous, and call Peel's address all hypocrisy." 

In acknowledging its receipt. Colonel Damer wrote: "On 

1 The late Countess Fortescue. 



REST 



433 



Monday night we were summoned to pay our court to the 
King and Queen (Louis XVIII. and Queen Amelie). They 
both asked most kindly after you, and expressed a wish to see 
you in the spring." 

But Mrs. Fitzherbert did not go abroad again. She was at 
her house in Tilney Street during most of the London season 
(1835), when she gave dinner-parties to her friends; she no 
longer gave any other form of entertainment. Raikes writes 
of her: "She kept a very handsome estabhshment in Tilney 
Street and Brighton, where the best society was always seen, 
every one without formality evincing that nuance of respect 
which tacitly acknowledged her elevated position, while the 
service of plate and handsome dinners, and a numerous train 
of servants, all grown old in her service, gave the house at 
least a seigneurial, if not a royal appearance." ^ 

The following note to Mrs. Fitzherbert from the Princess 
Augusta, interesting because of its mention of our late Queen, 
was written at this time : — 

"May 23, 1833. 

"My dear Mrs. Fitzherbert, — I shall be very glad to 
see you to-morrow, if you will be at the Palace at four o'clock. 
I cannot name an earlier hour, as I go to Kensington to see 
Victoria,^ whose birthday it is, and at five the King and Queen 
dine with me, for the ball given to the children begins at eight. 
I am very sorry to hear you have been ill, and trust that the 
Brighton air will restore your health. Not one of your friends 
is more attached to you than your faithful ^ a >> 

Mrs. Fitzherbert dined several times at St. James's with the 
King and Queen, who as usual showed her great kindness and 
attention. Lady Georgiana Grey, writing to Mrs. Damer, 
mentions meeting her at one of these dinners. She says, "Mrs. 
Fitzherbert was at St. James's last night, looking beautiful, and 
young as ever." Indeed, her good looks and vivacity were a 
source of general comment. Mrs. Damer, writing from Baden 
(April 23, 1835), said that she had met Count Charles de 
Morny, the French Minister. "He inquired very attentively 

" Raikes' " Journal." 

2 The Princess Victoria, daughter of the Duke of Kent, born May 24, 1819. 



434 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

after you, dearest Mamma, and said that no one he met in 
England had made the impression of being grande dame half 
as much as yourself." Mr. Charles Weld Blundell says that 
his great-uncle, Mr. Charles Langdale, told him "that though 
she still showed in his day great beauty and charm, her wit and 
high spirits were her chief attractions, and often used to sur- 
round her with eager listeners at nearly eighty." 

Mrs. Fitzherbert spent Christmas at Brighton as usual. 
She continued fairly well, but she was no longer able to bear 
much fatigue, consequently she made Brighton her head- 
quarters throughout the year 1836, and only went to London 
on brief visits. Brighton, especially in the summer, suited her 
better than any other place, and she had a great many interests 
there in connection with her Church and her charities which 
she had not elsewhere. There are still living a few people at 
Brighton who remember her during these last years of her life, 
and who can recall her as she drove out in her carriage every 
afternoon, with her servants in the royal liveries. One who 
remembers her well ^ has told me the following reminiscence : — • 

"It was between the years 1832-36 that I used to do a little 
upholstery work for Mrs. Fitzherbert at Steine House. I was 
then a young man of twenty odd. During that time she was 
often not in good health, so that, though I was there many 
times, I never but once had any conversation with her. One 
morning she sent for me, and asked me to help her rearrange 
some silhouettes on the walls of her room. There were hun- 
dreds of them, representing her many friends, including, it is 
scarcely necessary to say, some of the most distinguished per- 
sonages of the century, and many were signed. They covered 
the walls of her room. For some time I worked at them, Mrs. 
Fitzherbert telling me where to place them. Every now and 
then she interrupted the work to ask me some questions about 
myself, how I liked my calhng, &c. She spoke in a low, 
sweet voice, and every word was very distinctly uttered. I 
remember that she was wearing a black silk dress, and a little 

Mr. William Saunders, now living at 3 Downs View, Culverdon Down, 
Tunbridge Wells, aged 94, whom I went to see on April 7, 1903, when he gave 
me the above interesting reminiscence. Mr. Saunders was perfectly hale and 
hearty, and was reading a book of Huxley's (without spectacles) the afternoon 
I called on him. 



REST 435 

shawl, but not widow's weeds. She was very pale, in fact her 
face was as colourless as wax, which made her bright, dark 
eyes seem all the brighter by contrast. Though old time, 
sorrow, and ill-treatment had written deep furrows on her face, 
still one could see the remains of a beautiful woman. She 
seemed happy, even cheerful, but except when her face was lit 
up with her sweet smile, she wore a look of settled sadness. 
After about an hour, I should think, she said, 'I feel tired, I 
must leave you to finish them by yourself,' and went away. 
This was the only time I saw her to speak to, though I often 
saw her driving, and I was often in the house again. I remem- 
ber her drawing-room on the first floor. The furniture was 
old fashioned and very good, but some of it was threadbare. 
I remember especially an ottoman covered with needlework 
(done by Mrs. Fitzherbert herself, the maid said) some two 
feet long, a bunch of roses on a maroon-coloured ground. I 
have repaired furniture in her bedroom too, a large room, and 
two sides of the room were hung with silhouettes. 

"Whenever I saw Mrs. Fitzherbert after that morning when 
she talked to me, she always greeted me with a sweet smile of 
recognition which made me feel very proud. I venerated her 
for the kind, though dignified, manner in which she could 
speak to a young working-man as well as to a prince. Her 
servants were devoted to her, and some of them were very old. 
Her carriage with its splendid horses, and scarlet-liveried ser- 
vants, flashing along the Steine was a familiar sight to all 
Brighton when I was a young man. Mrs. Fitzherbert was 
very benevolent and charitable to Protestants and Catholics 
ahke." ' 

1 Though not strictly germane to the subject, I may quote here some further 
reminiscences of Mr. Saunders which he told at the same time. They are 
those of a man who has lived in five reigns. "I remember," he said, "the 
festivities in Brighton for the Coronation of George IV. in 1821. I remember 
the bonfires on the Level, and I ate some of the roast ox that was given away. 
The ox was roasted on the Level just beyond St. Peter's Church. George IV. 
was often at Brighton after that, but I never saw him till he left the Pavilion 
for the last time in 1827. I got a glimpse of him then through the windows of 
his coach. He looked like an old man, and weary, and he did not seem very 
stout; but I did not see very well, for the horses rushed by at full gallop. 

"I remember William IV. quite well. I saw him enter Brighton for the 
first time after his accession, and afterwards I often saw him walking on the 
parade or driving. I remember he had rather coarse features, with a heavy 
jowl. He used to wear Hessian boots, drab breeches, blue coat, and yellow 



436 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

As the winter of 1836-37 drew on Mrs. Fitzherbert's health 
showed signs of faihng. She went out very Httle, and remained 
in the house more than was her wont. Colonel and Mrs. 
Darner came down to Brighton in December with their children. 
Not to put her to any trouble, the children stayed with their 
nurses in lodgings close by; they were devoted to Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert. One of the surviving daughters of Mrs. Damer has 
given me the following interesting reminiscence: "In my child- 
hood I was often at Brighton, and used to go constantly with 
my eldest sister to the house on the Steine. Mrs. Fitzherbert 
was very fond of us children, and liked having us with her. 
She always prepared little treats and pleasures for us, and we 
looked forward greatly to these visits to 'Granny,' as we used 
to call her. I well remember what a beautiful old lady she 
was, with brilliant dark eyes, and a bright and charming 
manner." 

The King and Queen came to spend Christmas and the 
New Year at Brighton. On December 22, 1836, Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert dined with them at the Pavihon for the last time. She 
had to decline their invitation for Christmas Day, as she was 
no longer able to go out in the evening. She continued to 
receive many marks of kindness from the royal family. The 
good old King came to see her and wish her a happy New Year. 
He, too, was broken in health, and it was evident to all, himself 
included, that he had not long to live. Several old friends 
came to see Mrs. Fitzherbert at this time, including Sir Henry 
Halford, and Colonel Gurwood, who had promised to act as 

waistcoat. He was very popular in Brighton, because he was so friendly and 
unaffected; yet he was, and looked, every inch a King. I remember Queen 
Adelaide; she had a very large nose and red face; she used to drive up to drink 
the waters at the Chalybeate, a sort of Spa. 

"I remember seeing Queen Victoria the first day she came to Brighton, 
before she was married. I was working in the Pavilion (where everything was 
made ready for her in a great hurry) putting up a bedstead in one of the rooms, 
when suddenly into the room walked a blue-eyed girl, very short, followed by 
two ladies; when she saw me there she laughed and walked out again almost 
before I realised that she was the Queen. She had only arrived half-an-hour 
before, and was looking over the rooms in the Pavilion. A queer sort of resi- 
dence she must have thought it; at any rate she never liked it. I only saw 
Prince Albert once. He was driving along the Marine Parade on a cold March 
day, looking very blue and stiff. He was not popular in Brighton, and he did 
not like the place. People said it was through him the Queen came no more. 
I daresay it was not true, but that was the general impression." 




MRS. FITZHERBERT, cctat. So 
[From a Painthig in IVater-Colours, by permission of 'Ls.dy Blanche Haygakth) 



REST 



437 



one of her executors. On leaving her Colonel Gurwood went 
to the Duke of Wellington at Strathficldsaye. He wrote to 
her from there (January i6, 1827) a letter in which he said: 
"The Duke has asked after you, and what you had said of 
Sir William Knighton's death.^ I rephed that I had mentioned 
to you that he, the Duke, had a very high opinion of Knighton, 
upon which you remarked, 'I pity him then.' I thought he 
never would have ceased laughing." 

Mrs. Fitzherbert continued to keep up a brisk correspond- 
ence with her friends. One of her last letters was to Lady 
Ceciha Buggin (wife of the Duke of Sussex), ^ inquiring after 
the Duke, who had been ill with influenza. Lady Ceciha re- 
plied from Kensington Palace (February 15, 1837), and after 
narrating the Duke's illness, said: "I told him of your kind 
inquiries. He desires me to thank you and give you his love, 
and say how sorry he is that you have been ill, and we both 
trust that you will take care of yourself and escape this horrid 
complaint, which seems to spare nobody. I believe the best 
way is to remain within doors, and I am sure the advice given 
to you to do so is the best and the only sure way to avoid it." 

Unfortunately, Mrs. Fitzherbert did not follow this advice. 
One bright morning in March she was tempted by the sunshine 
to go out for a drive, heedless of the fact that a keen east wind 
was blowing — and the east wind is nowhere keener than at 
Brighton. The following day she complained of feeling unwell. 
The doctors at first thought she was suffering from a slight 
chill, but within a few days she developed symptoms of a severe 
attack of influenza. Colonel and Mrs. Damer, who were in 
London, hurried down to Brighton. All that medical skill 
and devoted care could do was done, but Mrs. Fitzherbert 
grew worse, her malady being complicated by great difficulty 
of breathing. Mrs. Damer wrote to Sir Henry Halford, and 
the great physician posted dov/n from London to attend the 
sick-bed of his old friend. But when he came he saw that 
little could be done to alleviate her sufferings; the end was near. 
On Saturday, March 25, it was not expected that she would 
live through the day, and her domestic chaplain. Father Lopez, 
administered to her the last rites of the Church. The priest 

1 Sir William Knighton died in 1836. 

2 Later created by Queen Victoria Duchess of Inverness. 



438 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

was praying by the bedside when Mrs. Darner's little girls 
were brought in to take their last farewell of "Granny" — 
Mrs. Fitzherbert had expressed a wish to see the children. 
One of them has given me the following account of this sad 
scene : — 

"One day we children were told that Granny, as we always 
called her, was very ill, and our parents took us into the room 
where she lay dying. The priest was saying the last prayers 
over her, the words of which were much the same as that of 
Newman's beautiful poem, 'The Dream of Gerontius,' and 
they made such an impression on my mind that I have never 
forgotten them." ^ 

Go forth upon thy journey, Christian soul ! 
Go from this world ! Go in the Name of God 
The omnipotent Father, Who created thee I 
Go in the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, 
Son of the Living God, Who bled for thee. 
Go in the Name of the Holy Spirit, Who 
Hath been poured out on thee ! Go in the name 
Of Angels and Archangels; in the name 
Of Thrones and Dominations ; in the name 
Of Princedoms and Powers ; and in the name 
Of Cherubim and Seraphim, go forth 1 

Mrs. Fitzherbert lingered over Sunday, her strong constitu- 
tion fighting for her to the last. In several of the churches of 
Brighton, not only those of her own faith, she was prayed for. 
Monday found her in a semi-conscious state. It was a rough, 
windy day (one has told me), broken by fitful gleams of sun- 
shine, and the watchers by the dying woman's bed could hear 
the roar of the big waves as they broke along the beach. Thus 
the day wore on, Mrs. Fitzherbert growing weaker every hour. 
Towards evening, when the tide was ebbing, and all the light 
had faded off the sea, "God's finger touched her and she 
slept." 

Mrs. Fitzherbert died on Monday, March 27, 1837, at 
seven o'clock in the evening, in the eighty-second year of her 
age. Bom in the reign of George 11. , she died within three 
months of the accession of Queen Victoria. 

'^ Proficiscere, anima Christiana, de hoc mundo, &fc. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

IN MEMORIAM 

(1837) 

Mrs. Fitzherbert's body lay in state for some days at her 
house in Brighton. A room on the ground floor was trans- 
formed into a chapelle ardente, under the direction of her 
chaplain, Father Lopez. The coffin was of English oak, and 
bore a plate with the following inscription : — 

MARIA FITZHERBERT. 

Born 26th July, 1756. 

Died 27th March, '1837. 

Requiescat in pace. 

Amen. 

The coffin was covered with a crimson velvet pall, and was 
placed on a bier in the centre of the room. A loving hand had 
laid on it a few white roses. Dayhght was excluded from the 
chamber, and the walls were hung with black and purple. 
Tall wax tapers burned on either side of the bier, and a small 
temporary altar had been erected, on which stood a crucifix. 
The body was watched night and day by nuns from a community 
which Mrs. Fitzherbert had helped to estabHsh in Brighton. 
Many friends of the deceased lady, many townsmen of Brighton, 
rich and poor, visited the chapelle ardente} 

Mrs. Fitzherbert had desired that her funeral should be as 
simple as possible, and that she should be buried in a vault in 
the Roman Catholic church of St. John the Baptist, at Brighton, 
a church which she had largely helped to build. Her wishes 
were carried out to the letter. The funeral took place on 
Thursday, April 4, 1837 — the Thursday in Easter week. It 

1 Mr. J. G. Bishop, the historian of the Brighton Pavilion, a much respected 
townsman of Brighton, has told me that he remembers well the lying in state. 
He was then a small boy, calling at the house on some errand, and one of the 
servants took him into the room. 

439 



440 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

was a bright spring day, the trees on the Steine were bursting 
into bud, and all Nature was waking from its long sleep. The 
whole town seemed to have gone into mourning, and immense 
crowds collected on the Steine, for the deceased lady had 
endeared herself to all classes of people. At ten o'clock in the 
morning the funeral cortege left Steine House, and proceeded 
at a walking pace up the Marine Parade to St. John the Baptist's 
Church in the Bristol Road.^ The procession consisted of the 
hearse, drawn by six horses, and followed by six mourning 
coaches, and Mrs. Fitzherbert's private carriage. Among the 
principal mourners were, the Earl of Munster, representing 
the King, Colonel the Hon. George Dawson Damer, Captain 
the Hon. Edward Stafford Jerningham, Sir Frederick Hervey 
Bathurst, Bart., Sir George Seymour, K.C.B., and Colonel 
Gurwood. 

The coffin was placed by the side of the grave, which was in 
the centre of the church, facing the altar. Mrs. Dawson Damer 
and Mrs. Edward Jerningham, who had previously driven to 
the church, occupied seats close to the grave. The church was 
hung with black ; the only light proceeding from the wax tapers 
around the coffin, those on the altar, and a few which lighted 
the church. No one was admitted to the church except those 
provided with tickets, nevertheless the sacred building was 
crowded with mourners, who included most of the principal 
people in Brighton, not only Roman Catholics, but also Church- 
men and Nonconformists. The Requiem Mass was sung by 
the Rev. Dr. CuUen, assisted by several other priests, including 
Father Lopez. At the conclusion of the Mass the coffin was 
lowered into the grave, whilst the Benedictus was sung by the 
choir. The service was concluded by Dr. CuUen reciting the 
Lord's Prayer in English. 

At the close of the service, many persons pressed forward 
to look at the last resting-place of one whom they had loved. 
In consideration of the numbers who wished to do so, the church 
was allowed to remain open until five o'clock in the evening. 

^ "I saw her funeral cross the Steine," Mr. Saunders told me. "There was 
an enormous crowd, such as I never saw before in Brighton; to us it seemed 
like a state funeral, but it was not." Mr. J. G. Bishop and Mr. John Haines 
also told me they saw the funeral procession, and there are other inhabitants of 
Brighton, still living, who remember it too. 




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IN MEMORIAM 441 

A continuous stream of people passed the grave during the day, 
and many who had not been present at the service, were thus 
able to pay a last tribute of respect to the deceased. 

On the Sunday following the funeral, many relatives and 
friends of Mrs. Fitzherbert attended divine service at the church 
of St. John the Baptist. The sermon at High Mass was 
preached by the Rev. Dr. Cullen, who took occasion to dwell 
on the many virtues of the deceased lady. No allusion was 
made by the preacher to the peculiar position she had occupied 
in her life, but his discourse was based on the words, "/ will 
give thee a crown of lije.^^ ^ 

Nearly seventy years have come and gone since Maria 
Fitzherbert was laid to rest in the little church at Brighton. 
In the great busthng town outside, the very name of the woman 
to whom, perhaps more than any one else, Brighton owes its 
prosperity, is well-nigh forgotten; and except for the changed 
and dismantled house on the Steine, one may search in vain 
for any trace of her. But in the quiet church where she sleeps 
her last sleep her tradition still lingers. One who was not of 
her faith, and not of her blood, but was bound to her by the 
strongest ties of love and duty, her adopted daughter, Mrs. 
Damer, has raised a marble monument to her memory. The 
veiled and kneeling figure reveals Mrs. Fitzherbert as she was 
in the last year of her life. Beneath runs this inscription: — 

"In a vault near this spot are deposited the remains of 

MARIA FITZHERBERT. 

She was born on the 26th of July, 1756, 

And expired at Brighton on the 27th of March, 1837. 

One to whom she was more than a parent has 

placed this monument to her revered and beloved 

memory, as a humble though feeling tribute of 

her everlasting gratitude and affection. 

R.I.P. 

That is all, but on the third finger of the left hand there appears 
a third wedding ring — a silent witness to the fact that this 
woman, though never a Queen, was yet a King's wife. 

1 The will of Mrs. Fitzherbert, with two codicils, was proved April 20, 1837, 
at Doctors' Commons, by Sir George Seymour, Colonel Gurwood, and Samuel 
Forster, Esq., the executors. The amount of personal property was sworn 
under £35,000. 



442 MRS. FITZHERBERT 

Mrs. Fitzherbert's death occasioned widespread grief, and 
the public and private testimony to her worth was great. The 
press teemed with notices, some of them not very accurate in 
their facts, but all, with rare exceptions, spealdng of the deceased 
lady with great respect.^ The day after she died expresses were 
sent to Windsor, Kensington, and other residences of the mem- 
bers of the royal family, announcing the sad intelligence. King 
WiUiam IV. was walking on the terrace at Windsor when the 
news came. He heard it with emotion, and immediately went 
indoors to tell the Queen. The King and Queen and nearly 
every member of the royal family wrote to Mr^. Damer to 
express their deep regret. The Duke of Sussex, to whom Mrs. 
Damer had sent a ring containing some of Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
hair, wrote thanking her for "the memorial of my dear and 
lamented friend, though indeed my regard and friendship for 
her was too sincere to require anything to put me in mind of 
her." 2 

Lady Louisa Stuart,^ who was a contemporary of Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, and had known her throughout her long hfe, wrote 
to her nephew. Colonel Damer, saying: "I can imagine no 
heavier affliction than has befallen Mrs. Damer. It is no 
matter by what name people are called, the cherisher of her 
infancy and the tender friend of her youth was essentially a 
mother to her, and only entitled to the more affection and 
gratitude for being so voluntarily, and not bound to it by duty. 
I always believed poor Mrs. Fitzherbert very amiable, and 
respected her character even in old days, when party set in 
full tide against her, so I can give credit to everything you say. 
No woman that ever enjoyed the confidence of a prince kept 
so clear of abusing it, or meddled so little with matters of state, 
and I am persuaded she never made an enemy in her life." * 

The Duke of Bedford wrote to Sir Henry Halford: "Poor 
Mrs. Fitzherbert! I had known her for more than fifty years. 
She had a feeling and excellent heart." ^ 

Lord Munster wrote to Mrs. Damer a few months later : — 

1 Vide Appendix D. 

2 Kensington Palace, May 26, 1837. 

3 Lady Louisa Stuart (1737-1851), daughter of John, Earl of Bute (sometime 
Prime Minister), and grand-daughter of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. 

* Gloucester Place, London, W., March 30, 1837. 
^ Woburn Abbey, March 29, 1837. 




THE MEMORIAL TO MRS. FITZHERBERT IN ST. JOHN 
THE BAPTIST'S CHURCH, BRIGHTON 



IN MEMORIAM 443 

"Brighton, August 28, 1837. 
"I have been over the old house on the Steine. I had, no 
idea the whole house and furniture would be so exactly as she 
left it. What scenes did not every object recall to my remem- 
brance ! The dressing-room with most of the India ink profiles 
there — a Httle white bed in the corner of her bedroom, that 
sad room. On entering the drawing-room, I almost expected 
to see you on the sofa behind the screen — all as you saw it 
the last time. I stood in the library and remembered it as 
your old school-room with the governess. I went down to the 
dining-room, where as a boy I used to dine sometimes five days 
out of the seven, and you came in to dessert. I recalled it as 
our theatre, where we used to act. And then as hung with 
black on the last sad occasion, when she left us for the last 
time." 

Nearly every contemporary writer, who has occasion to 
allude to Mrs. Fitzherbert, speaks of her in terms of the highest 
praise. Even Greville, who was no respecter of persons, wrote 
in his diary: "She was not a clever woman, but of a very noble 
spirit, disinterested, generous, honest, and affectionate, greatly 
beloved by her friends and relations, popular in the world, and 
treated with uniform distinction and respect by the royal 
family." ^ 

Within three months of Mrs. Fitzherbert's death King 
WiUiam IV. died, and the youthful Queen Victoria ascended 
the throne, who by her pure life and lofty ideals was destined 
to restore the prestige of the British Monarchy. In the enthu- 
siasm aroused by the new reign, the Georgian era, and its 
contemporary figures, good and bad aliJ^e, were hurried into 
obhvion — Mrs. Fitzherbert among them. But among the 
friends who had known and loved her, her memory was cher- 
ished so long as they lived, as that of a noble and true-hearted 
woman. 

1 "Greville Memoirs," ed. 1885, vol. iii. p. 396. 



APPENDIX A 

THE riTZHERBERT PAPERS 

(1833-1905) 
"To save mine honour from corruption." 

When in August 1833 Mrs. Fitzherbert placed the papers 
which she had reserved from the burning at Coutts's Bank, "at 
the disposal of the Earl of Albemarle and Lord Stourton," it 
was to Lord Stourton that she looked chiefly for help and 
guidance concerning them. Lord Stourton was her cousin and 
a Roman CathoHc. Necessarily, therefore, there existed be- 
tween them a community of interest which could not be shared 
by Lord Albemarle, who though a trusted friend, was bound 
to her by neither the tie of blood nor of rehgion. It was neces- 
sary for Mrs. Fitzherbert to have two trustees, but it was to 
Lord Stourton that she entrusted the vindication of her char- 
acter with posterity. This is clear from a letter she wrote to 
him from Paris, December 7, 1833, a few months after the 
papers had been deposited at Coutts's Bank. After thanking 
him for the interest he took in her affairs, she said : — 

"I know I must have been a great torment to you, but I am 
sure the kind feelings of your heart will derive some gratifica- 
tion, in having reheved me from a state of misery and anxiety 
which has been the bane of my life, and I trust, whenever it 
shall please God to remove me from this world, my conduct and 
character {in your hands) will not disgrace my family and my 
friends. ^^ ^ 

Mrs. Fitzherbert's intention, therefore, with regard to the 
papers was perfectly clear. On her return to England in 1834, 
and during the last three years of her hfe (1834-183 7), she 
frequently discussed the subject with Lord Stourton. She 

1 Langdale, op. cit., p. io8. All the quotations in this Appendix are from 
Langdale's "Memoir," unless otherwise stated. 

444 



THE FITZHERBERT PAPERS 445 

authorised him to write her biography after her death, and 
dictated a short narrative of her Hfe to him, which, with the 
papers she had retained at Coutts's Bank, she deemed sufficient 
for the purpose. The time she left to his discretion. Lord 
Stourton urged her to give more definite instructions as to 
what was to be done with the papers in the case of the death 
of one or both of the trustees, and she promised to do so, but 
postponed the matter. After the death of Sir Wilham Knighton 
in 1836, Lord Stourton again raised the question. He wrote 
to her (November 29, 1836): "What disposition of these papers 
is to be made, after the demise of those whom you liave appointed 
executors in regard of them?" ^ and asking for more exphcit 
instructions. Mrs. Fitzherbert merely acknowledged Lord 
Stourton's letter, and promised to discuss the matter fully with 
him when she next came to London. But when she came Lord 
Stourton was at AUerton, so she wrote to him: — 

"I have seen Lord Albemarle frequently, and told him the 
contents of your letter, respecting your seal, in case the papers 
should be removed from Coutts's; but as you had left town, 
and as you were the chief person I wished to consult about 
them, I have, for the present, desired Lord Albemarle not to 
make any application to the Duke of Wellington till some 
future occasion." 

It is unwise to delay when one is over eighty: and a few 
months after writing this letter Mrs. Fitzherbert died, without 
leaving any definite instructions as to what was to be done with 
the papers at Coutts's Bank. Hence arose the difficulties and 
confusion that followed. Some ten days after Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
death, in consequence of the announcement of an unauthorised 
memoir, Lord Albemarle wrote to Lord Stourton (April 6, 1837) 
and suggested that they should consult together concerning 
"the charge confided to us." The publication of the unauthor- 
ised memoir was presumably prevented, since none appeared, 
and Lord Stourton, to whom the task of writing the authorised 
biography had been entrusted by Mrs. Fitzherbert, wished to 
break the seals of the package at Coutts's Bank to see what 
was in the papers. But the Duke of Wellington's knowledge 
was necessary to the opening of the parcel : the Duke considered 

* Extract from a letter of Lord Stourton's to Mrs. Fitzherbert at Brighton, 
dated Allerton, November 29, 1836. 



446 APPENDIX A 

this also to mean his consent, and he demurred. Lord Albe- 
marle did not like to press the matter in the face of the Duke's 
unwillingness, and so Lord Stourton was reluctantly induced 
to yield to the Duke's suggestion that the documents should 
be left, for the time, undisturbed. "The Duke of Wellington," 
he says, "assumed that Mrs. Fitzherbert herself had shown an 
indisposition to disturb and reopen this parcel, and therefore 
that her friends could not, and ought perhaps not, to be more 
watchful over her character than she had been herself." Lord 
Stourton told the Duke that "my acquaintance with Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's sentiments as to these papers was wholly at va- 
riance to the views so entertained by his Grace." But the Duke 
was not to be persuaded, and Lord Stourton was induced, 
"however reluctantly, to yield to his Grace's suggestions, and 
to leave the documents for the time undisturbed." 

Though foiled in this instance. Lord Stourton continued to 
keep watch over Mrs. Fitzherbert's good name and fair memory. 
In 1838, there appeared in the Edinburgh Review ^ an article 
on the marriage of Mrs. Fitzherbert to the Prince of Wales, 
which, though favourable to the deceased lady, contained certain 
errors of fact. Lord Stourton at once wrote to correct these 
errors. His letter was inserted in the following number of the 
Edinburgh Review,^ and contained the following: "The mar- 
riage ceremony was performed not out of the kingdom, as you 
have stated, but in her own drawing-room, in her house in 
town, in the presence of an officiating Protestant clergyman, 
and of two of her own nearest relatives." 

One would have thought this statement was conclusive, 
coming as it did from one of the leading Roman Catholic 
laymen in England, a cousin and trustee of the deceased lady. 
But the pubhc denials in the House of Commons of Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's marriage were not forgotten, and it was still 
regarded as an open question whether she had been through 
any ceremony of marriage with the late King George IV. No 
one was more conscious of this than Lord Stourton, and in 
1 841 he made another attempt to have the packet at Coutts's 
Bank opened, and so put all doubt at end. "The first question 
is," he wrote to Lord Albemarle, "and to that I cannot reply 

1 Edinburgh Review, No. cxxxv. 2 ibid., No. cxxxvi. 



THE FITZHERBERT PAPERS 447 

in any way quite satisfactorily myself, what these papers are?" 
He asked Lord Albemarle to see the Duke of Wellington about 
it. Lord Albemarle did so, and wrote to Lord Stourton (Feb- 
ruary I, 1 841) a letter in which he said that he had called upon 
the Duke, who read Lord Stourton's letter. "He then requested 
me to state to you, that he felt he had a public duty as well as 
a private one to perform in keeping the papers alluded to, if 
possible, undisturbed, on account of their importance; that there 
was not now, nor had there been, any attack upon Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert's reputation. Did any appear in any quarter, he would 
be eager in joining us to repel it." The Duke, however, ex- 
pressed his willingness to discuss the matter with Lord Stourton, 
when he should come to town. 

Lord Stourton heard nothing further from the Duke until 
he received a long letter, dated "Walmer Castle, August 10, 
1841," in which, after stating his view of the circumstances 
which led to the placing of the papers in Coutts's Bank, the 
Duke said : — 

"Circumstances have in some degree changed since the 
death of Mrs. Fitzherbert, but it is still very desirable to avoid 
drawing public attention to, and re-awakening, the subject by 
public discussion of the narrations to which the papers relate, 
which are deposited in the packet sealed up, to which I have 
above referred. And I am convinced that neither I nor any of 
the survivors of the royal family, of those who lived in the days 
in which these transactions occurred, could view with more 
pain any publication or discussion of them than would the late 
Mrs. Fitzherbert when ahve. Under these circumstances, and 
having acted conscientiously and upon honour throughout the 
affairs detailed in this letter, I cannot but consider it my duty 
to protest, and I do protest most solemnly, against the measure 
proposed by your Lordship, that of breaking the seals affixed 
to the packet of papers belonging to the late Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
deposited at Messrs. Coutts's, the bankers, under the several 
seals of the Earl of Albemarle, your Lordship, and myself." 

Nothing daunted by the Duke's decided tone, Lord Stourton 
again in April 1842 made a last attempt to see these papers, 
and asked the Duke to give him an interview with Lord Albe- 
marle. But the Duke, though he did not dechne the meeting, 
postponed it indefinitely. Lord Stourton was later in this year 



448 APPENDIX A 

taken seriously ill, and became a confirmed invalid. On De- 
cember 22, 1842, he told his brother, Mr. Charles Langdale, of 
the trust Mrs. Fitzherbert had confided in him, and of the 
position in which he was placed with regard to the papers she 
had placed at Coutts's Bank to vindicate her memory. As his 
ill-health made it impossible for him to fulfil the trust, he 
solemnly committed it to his brother. Lord Stourton died on 
December 4, 1846, and all the correspondence and papers 
which he had collected on the subject, together with the narra- 
tive dictated to him by Mrs. Fitzherbert, were placed in the 
hands of Mr. Langdale for the purpose of writing a biography. 
Lord Stourton also willed to his brother his share of control 
over the papers at Coutts's Bank. This he had no legal power 
to do, as by his death they fell under the control of Lord Albe- 
marle, the surviving trustee. Mr. Langdale, however, formally 
applied to Messrs. Coutts to see the papers, and as he had no 
legal status, his request was formally refused. He then wrote 
to Lord Albemarle and the Duke of Wellington, informing them 
of his brother's wishes, and he received a promise from them 
that the documents should not be removed from Coutts's Bank 
without informing him. Lord Albemarle died in 185 1, and his 
trusteeship of Mrs. Fitzherbert's papers passed to his brother, 
the Rev. the Hon. E. S. Keppel, whom he made his executor. 
The Duke of Wellington died in 1852. 

Mr. Langdale, uncertain how to proceed, suffered the matter 
to rest until 1854, when the publication of Lord Holland's 
posthumous "Memoirs of the Whig Party" revived the question 
anew. In these "Memoirs" Lord Holland referred to the 
marriage of the Prince of Wales to Mrs. Fitzherbert, and said : — 

"The exact date and circumstances of that ceremony have 
not come to my knowledge ; but the account given of some part 
of the transaction by Mrs. Fitzherbert herself to a friend of 
mine, a man of strict veracity, is curious, and I beheve correct. 
It was at the Prince's own earnest and repeated solicitations, 
and not at Mrs. Fitzherbert's request, that any ceremony was 
resorted to. She knew it to be invalid in law; she thought it 
nonsense, and told the Prince so. In proof that such had been 
her uniform opinion, she adduced a very striking circumstance, 
namely — that no ceremony by a Roman Catholic priest took 
place at all; the most obvious method of allaying her scruples, 



THE FITZHERBERT PAPERS 



449 



had she had any. I beHeve, therefore, that she spoke with 
truth when she frankly owned that she had given herself up to 
him, exacted no conditions, trusted to his honour, and set no 
value on the ceremony which he insisted on having solemnised." ^ 

Mr. Langdale regarded this as an attack on Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert's honour and good faith, and a reflection on her rehgion, 
as her marriage was regarded as vahd by her Church. He 
thought that the time had come for him to write Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert's biography, and tell the true story of the marriage. He 
therefore wrote to Mr. Edward Keppel (November i6, 1854), 
and requested that "a copy of the preserved documents should 
be placed at my disposal, the more effectively to establish the 
grounds upon which the friends and relations of this Lady have 
ever maintained her full and fair claim to their respect and 
esteem, and to the character of an honourable and religious 
woman." 

In reply Mr. Keppel asked for time to consider the matter, 
and informed Mr. Langdale, "The packet you refer to is safe 
at Coutts's, the seals at present unbroken." 

Mr. Langdale agreed to a few weeks' delay only, premising 
" that it is important the defence should not be too long delayed." 
Months passed and he heard nothing. He therefore wrote 
again, February 16, 1855, asking for a definite answer. Then 
Mr. Keppel wrote, February 23, 1855, and said that he had 
consulted the Duke of Bedford, and through him taken the 
opinion of Mrs. Fitzherbert's surviving executors. Sir George 
Seymour and Mr. Forster. "They are strongly against the 
production of these papers. They would only prove the mar- 
riage of the Prince with Mrs. Fitzherbert, which is not ques- 
tioned, as Lord Holland's remarks go to the motives and 
feelings of herself and the Prince, which the evidence in the 
papers would not touch." 

Against this decision Mr. Langdale lodged a spirited protest, 
and announced his intention of defending Mrs. Fitzherbert's 
reputation at all costs. He reminded Mr. Keppel that the 
papers were placed at Coutts's Bank by Mrs. Fitzherbert to 
prove her marriage with the Prince of Wales, and that was the 
only reason they were placed there. He added: "That the 

^ "Memoirs of the Whig Party," by Lord Holland, edited by his son. Vol. ii. 
p. 140. 

2E 



450 APPENDIX A 

reserved papers were intended for such a purpose, and that 
the trustees to whose charge they were committed received 
them with such an understanding from her whose property 
they were, you must excuse me if I confidently repeat. The 
refusal to place them at my disposal, renders it more imperative 
upon me to lay before the public the whole detail of the con- 
nection between Mrs. Fitzherbert and George IV., then Prince 
of Wales, as narrated by herself to the late Lord Stourton; 
and which, without the reserved documents, will, I trust, show 
to the world, that whatever the conduct of George IV. may 
have been, that of Mrs. Fitzherbert, under trials of no ordinary 
description, was such as to have done honour to the purity of 
her character as a woman, and to her principles as a Catholic." 

Mr. Langdale thereupon wrote the "Memoirs of Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, with an account of her Marriage with H.R.H. the 
Prince of Wales, afterwards King George the Fourth," ^ to 
which frequent reference has been made in this book. The 
book consists of the short narrative of her Hfe which Mrs. 
Fitzherbert told to Lord Stourton; a list of the papers which she 
had deposited at Coutts's Bank, and all the correspondence 
which had passed relating to them after her death. Mr. Lang- 
dale made an eloquent defence of Mrs. Fitzherbert as a woman 
of virtue and a good Roman Catholic. He thus defends his 
own action in publishing the book : — 

"All minor considerations," he says, "must yield before the 
paramount duty to the memory of a woman to establish her 
full and fair title to the virtue of chastity. That such was 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's just prerogative, grounded upon the strictest 
dictates of her conscience, and supported by the principles of 
her religion, and sanctioned by the decision of her Church, I 
am bound at all hazards to establish. To this I consider 
myself pledged, this I owe to the memory of the dead. This 
I owe to the cause of virtue, truth and religion, and at any 
personal risk of imputations of what nature soever, or from 
what quarter soever, this I am prepared, without reserve, to 
undertake." 

By the pubhcation of this book in 1856, Mr. Langdale 
authoritatively informed the world of the fact that a ceremony 

1 Only a limited edition of this book was published in 1856, and Mr. Langdale 
refused to have it reprinted. It has long since been out of print. 



THE FITZHERBERT PAPERS 451 

of marriage had taken place between the Prince of Wales and 
Mrs. Fitzherbert. Mr. Langdale, it is true, was unable to 
pubUsh the documents which Mrs. Fitzherbert had expressly 
deposited at Coutts's Bank to prove her marriage, but he gave 
a Hst of them and their purport. The fact that he was refused 
permission to publish these papers, only served to whet the 
public curiosity as to their contents. 

As the years wore by repeated appHcations were made to 
see the papers which she deposited at Coutts's Bank, but the 
applications were always met with a non possumus. As Mrs. 
Fitzherbert had left no clear directions concerning the dispo- 
sition of these papers after the deaths of the original trustees, 
the question had in fact become one of some difficulty. 

So matters remained until 1905, when, under circumstances 
related in the preface to this book, I made an application to 
His Majesty the ICing to be allowed to see these papers, and to 
quote from them all that was necessary to prove the marriage 
of George Prince of Wales with Mrs. Fitzherbert. His Majesty 
was graciously pleased to grant my request, and the mystery of 
the Fitzherbert papers was at last solved. These documents, 
after a sojourn of nearly seventy years at Coutts's Bank, have 
now found a more fitting home in the private archives of Windsor 
Castle. 



APPENDIX B 

MRS. FITZHERBERT's WILL 

Extracted from the Principal Registry of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty 
Division of the High Court of Justice in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. 

This is the last will and testament of me Maria 
FiTZHERBERT of Tilney Street, in the county of Middlesex. I 
give all my plate and plated articles, trinkets and personal 
ornaments to the Honorable Mary Georgina Emma Dawson 
Damer, wife of the Honorable Colonel George Lionel Dawson 
Damer, and to my niece, the Honorable Mary Anne Stafford 
Jerningham, wife of the Honorable Edward Stafford Jerning- 
ham, equally to be divided between them for their respective 
separate use. 

I give all the residue of my personal estate whatsoever, after 
payment of my debts, funeral and testamentary expenses, and 
such legacies and annuities as I may bequeath by any codicil 
to this my will, to Mrs. Damer's brother Sir George Seymour, 
a Captain in the Royal Navy, James Weld of Lulworth Castle 
in the county of Dorset, Esquire, Lieutenant-Colonel Gurwood, 
and Samuel Forster of Lincoln's Inn, Gentleman, their execu- 
tors, administrators, and assigns: In trust to get in and sell 
the same, and to stand possessed of the same, and the produce 
thereof, on the trusts hereinafter mentioned, that is to say: 
In trust to invest the same in Government or real securities at 
interest, with power from time to time to vary the said fund, 
but during the lives of Colonel and Mrs. Damer and the life 
of the survivor of them, with their, his or her consent to be 
signified in writing, and to stand possessed of such funds and 
securities: In trust to pay the income thereof to the said Mary 
Georgina Emma Dawson Damer during her life, for her separate 
use, and so that the same shall not be subject to the debts or 
controul of her husband, and that she shall not be at liberty to 
anticipate such income. And after her decease: In trust to 

452 



MRS. FITZHERBERT'S WILL 453 

pay the income of the same fund to the said George Lionel 
Dawson Darner during his life, and after the decease of the 
survivor of them the said trust fund shall be: In trust for all 
or such one or more of the children of the said Mary Georgina 
Emma Dawson Damer, at such ages and times and in such 
shares and manner and with such provisions for maintenance 
during minority and for advancement in the world as the said 
Mary Georgina Emma Dawson Damer shall by deed or will, 
executed in the presence of two or more witnesses, appoint. 
And in default of such appointment : In trust for all the children 
of the said Mary Georgina Emma Dawson Damer, who, being 
sons, shall attain the age of twenty-one years, or being daughters 
shall attain that age or marry, equally to be divided between 
them if more than one, and if there shall be but one such child 
then: In trust for such one child, and if there shall be no such 
child: In trust for the said Mary Georgina Emma Dawson 
Damer, her executors, administrators and assigns. And I 
hereby declare that no child of the said Mary Georgina Emma 
Dawson Damer taking any part of the said trust fund under 
any appointment to be made by her shall be entitled to any 
share of the unappointed part of the same fund without bringing 
his or her appointed share into hotchpot. And I hereby declare 
that after the decease of the survivor of them the said George 
Lionel Dawson Damer and Mary Georgina Emma Dawson 
Damer it shall be lawful for the said trustees or trustee to 
apply the whole or any part of the expectant share of any 
child in the said trust fund towards his or her advancement, 
and to apply the whole or any part of the income of such share 
in or towards his or her maintenance or education. And in 
case any of the trustees hereby appointed, or who shall be 
appointed as hereinafter mentioned, shall die or resign or 
decline to act in, or wish to be discharged from, the trusts 
hereby respectively reposed in them, I empower the said Mary 
Georgina Emma Dawson Damer, and after her death the said 
George Lionel Dawson Damer, and after their deaths the sur- 
viving or continuing trustees or trustee of the same fund, and 
if there shall be no such trustee then the executors or adminis- 
trators of the last surviving trustee, by deed to appoint new 
trustees when necessary in the usual manner, who shall have 
all the same powers as the trustees had in whose room they 



454 



APPENDIX B 



shall be appointed. And I declare that the trustees for the 
time being shall be only responsible for their own acts and 
defaults, and shall have power to reimburse themselves their 
costs and expences. And I appoint the said George Seymour, 
James Weld, John Gurwood and Samuel Forster executors 
of this my will. And I desire that no hatchment may be 
affixed to either of my houses. In witness whereof I have to 
this my last will and testament contained in three sheets of 
paper set my hand and seal, that is to say to the two preceding 
sheets subscribed my name, and to this third and last sheet 
subscribed my name and affixed my seal, this twenty-fifth day 
of March, in .the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 

^ ■ Maria Fitzherbert (L.S.). 

Signed, sealed, published, and declared by the said Maria 
Fitzherbert the testatrix as and for her last will and testament 
in the presence of us, who in her presence at her request and 
in the presence of each other have hereunto subscribed our 
names as witnesses. 

S. Cholmeley, 

Bartle J. L. Frere, Lincoln's Inn. 

London, March 28, 1836. 
I. Maria Fitzherbert, do make and declare this paper 
writing a codicil to my last will and testament, and to be 
considered as such : To my dear sister-in-law Mrs. Wat Smyth, 
one thousand pounds legacy. To my two nieces Lady Bathurst 
and Mrs. Craven one thousand pounds each. I have ever felt 
for them both as great an interest and very sincere affection, 
and had in a former will left them considerable legacies. Since 
that period they have both been greatly provided for, and do 
not stand in need of any assistance from me. I beg my kind 
friends S' George Seymour and Frederick Seymour to accept 
five hundred pounds each of them as a small token of remem- 
brance, having always had a very sincere regard and affection 
for them. Annuities for life: two hundred pounds to Yny friend 
Miss Lucia Jeffreys, two hundred to William Dawson, R.N., 
one hundred to Henry Daykin. To Mrs. Viney, Mrs. Mills 
and Mrs. Townshend each thirty pounds pr. ann. To Thos. 



MRS. FITZHERBERT'S WILL 455 

Fisher eighty pounds pr. ann. Mrs. Street twenty-four pounds, 
Henry Daykin ;^ioo, Mrs. Street ;^5o, Mrs. Viney, Mrs. Mills, 
Mrs. Townshend ;^3oo each legacy. To Richard Bassett four 
hundred pounds legacy. I desire that the annuitys and legacys 
bequeathed to all my servants may be paid free of all taxes, 
and I request my executors to pay such duties out of the residue 
of my personal estate. I leave to the Honble. George D. Darner 
three hundred pounds legacy, and thirty pounds annuity for 
life to Mrs. Haselhiirst, in trust to the above George D. Damer, 
for her own private use, totally independent of her husband. 
I desire my servants may have mourning and one month's 
board wages. The above codicil written in my own hand- 
writing and signed by me in the presence of 

Maria Fitzherbert. 
Witnessed by 

MuNSTER, 13 Belgrave Street, London. 

Harry Blaker, Surgeon, 33 West Street, Brighton. 

Brighton, Ap' 26th, 1836. 

To Mary Anne Jerningham and Minney Damer. 

This Paper is addressed to my two dear children, who I 
am sure will strictly comply with a few requests I wish to make. 
Life is uncertain, and my health and spirits are often so much 
depressed that I am fit for nothing. Still my anxiety is great 
respecting them. I pray to God they may both hve long with 
sincere affection and attachment to each other. I am confident 
this will be the case; the thought reconciles my mind at taking 
a long farewell of them. I have loved them both with the ten- 
derest affection any mother could do, and I have done to the 
utmost in my power for their interests and comfort. God 
bless them both, as well as all those that belong to them. I beg 
my dear George Damer to accept of the two large pictures of 
Gainsbro's in my dining room as a small remembrance of me. 
To dear Minney a round Sevre table, and to Mary Anne a 
small commode, inlaid w'^ Sevre, which generally stands in one 
of the drawing-rooms: a picture of Admiral Payne's I desire 
may be sent in my name to Cap'' Mason at Lord Hood's. I 
have packed up trinkets in separate boxes at the Bankers w^ 
Mr. Foster will deliver to you. I have written upon some of 



456 APPENDIX B 

them directions how they are to be disposed of. The picture 
of the late King George the 4th by Madame le Brun belongs 
to Minney Damer. I gave it her a long time ago. 

Maria Fitzherbert, 

Prerogative. — In the Goods of Maria Fitzherbert, widow, 
deceased : — 

Appeared personally, Bartle John Laurie Frere, a Partner 
in the firm of Messrs. Frere and Forster and Frere, of New 
Square, Lincoln's Inn, in the county of Middlesex, Solicitors, 
and Stephen Cholmeley, a Clerk in the said firm, and made 
oath that they the said Messrs. Frere & Forster were the Solici- 
tors of the above-named Maria Fitzherbert, late of Tilney Street 
in the county of Middlesex, and of Brighton in the county of 
Sussex, widow, deceased, and that the deponents have fre- 
quently seen her write and subscribe her name to paper writings, 
and are thereby become well acquainted with her manner and 
character of handwriting and subscription. And they, having 
now carefully viewed and inspected the paper writings hereto 
annexed, purporting to be, and contain, two codicils to the last 
will and testament of the said deceased, the first of the said 
Codicils beginning thus: "I Maria Fitzherbert do make and 
declare this paper writing a codicil to my last will and testament," 
ending thus: ''The above codicil written in my own handwriting 
and signed by me in the presence of," and thus subscribed: 
"Maria Fitzherbert," and having the following written at the 
foot thereof, to wit, "Brighton, Ap' 26th, 1836," and the word 
four written on erasure in the nth line of the second side. 
The second Codicil beginning thus: "Mary Anne Jerningham 
and Minney Damer," ending thus: "I gave it her a long time 
ago," and thus subscribed: "Maria Fitzherbert," say they verily 
and in their consciences believe the date "Brighton, Ap^ 26th, 
1836," at the foot, of the first Codicil as aforesaid, and the said 
word "four" written on erasure in the nth line of the second 
side thereof, and the whole body, series and contents of the said 
second codicil, to be of the proper handwriting of the said 
Maria Fitzherbert, widow, deceased. ^^^^^^ ^ ^^ ^^^^^ 

S. Cholmeley. 



MRS. FITZHERBERT'S WILL 457 

On the 12th day of April, 1837, the said Bartle John Laurie 

Frere and Stephen Cholmeley were duly sworn to the truth of 

this Afi&davit before me, • 

' John Daubeney, Sur^. 

Present — W. Townsend, Not. Pub. 

In the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. 
In the Goods of Maria Fitzherbert, widow, deceased : — 
Appeared personally. Sir George Francis Seymour of 
Hampton Court Palace in the county of Middlesex and made 
oath that he is one of the executors named in the last will and 
testament with two codicils of Maria Fitzherbert, late of Tilney 
Street in the county of Middlesex, and of Brighton in the county 
of Sussex, widow, deceased ; and the Deponent now referring to 
the second Codicil hereto annexed and which is without date, 
in which appears the following clause: — "I have packed up 
trinkets in separate boxes at the Bankers w*^ Mr. Forster will 
deliver to you, and have written upon some of them directions 
how they are to be disposed of," saith that on the 8th day of 
the present month he was present in the deceased's house in 
Tilney Street aforesaid, with Lieutenant- Colonel G. Gurwood 
and Mr, Samuel Forster his co-executors, when a box which 
had been deposited by the deceased at Messrs. Coutts her 
Bankers, and had been brought from thence, was opened for 
their examination, and which was examined by Deponent in 
presence of his said Co-Executors accordingly. That in such 
box was found a box sealed up in paper on which was written 
"Belongs to the Honble. Mrs. Dawson Damer, August 23rd, 
1836," a small paper packet also sealed up, on which was 
Hkewise written, according to the best of Deponent's recollec- 
tion and belief, "This belongs to Mrs. Dawson Damer," and 
that there was also found in the said box a snuff box wrapped 
in a piece of loose brown paper having Mrs. Damer's name 
written thereon. The Deponent lastly saith that save as above 
set forth there were no trinkets in the said box, upon which the 
name of any person or directions as to their disposal were 
written, and that the said two sealed boxes have remained 

unopened. _, 

^ G. F. Seymour. 



458 APPENDIX B 

On the nth April, 1837, the said Sir Francis Seymour was 
duly sworn to the truth of this Affidavit Before me 

John Daubeney, Sur^. 
Pres* — Wm. Townsend, Not. Pub. 

Proved with two Codicils, 20th April 1837. 

Fos. 28.— J. J. C. 



APPENDIX C 

CONCERNING CERTAIN RELICS OF MRS. FITZHERBERT AT 
BRIGHTON 

A FEW years ago certain relics of Mrs. Fitzherbert were on 
view at the Brighton Museum, to wit: — 

1. A pair of small, gold shoe-buckles, of oval shape and narrow 

metal. 

2. Plain gold bracelet, thin but broad, with a small oval malachite 

stone, which has been cracked. 

3. A round piece of gold-coloured iron pyrites, which used to be on 

Mrs. Fitzherbert's dressing-table. At that period pyrites were 
considered to be thunderbolts, but now are known to be of 
earthly origin. 

4. A large twisted glass scent bottle, with brass top, wrought to 

represent a collection of flowers and fruits. In spite of its 
age, the bottle still retains a powerful odour of some mixed 
scent. 

5. A pair of rather remarkable earrings, of the drop and pendant 

shape. The earrings are made of some curious dark red 
substance, covered with glittering spangles, probably a kind 
of cornelian. On each are two tiny pictures, composed of 
extremely minute mosaics, the details of which can only be 
seen by the aid of a magnifying glass. 

6. A slender gold ring, with amethyst. 

7. A waistcoat button, which belonged to George IV.; it is of dark 

blue, studded with gold stars, and has an edging of small 
diamonds. , . 

8. A cuff link, which belonged to George IV., consisting of one 

large, probably imitation, diamond. 

9. A small diamond hair-pin, wliich belonged to Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
10. A very delicate ivory fan, about six inches long, each shatt, 

which is carved with fretwork, being so thin as to be trans- 
lucent. The whole is held together by a diamond-headed 
rivet. 

459 



46o APPENDIX C 

11. A beautiful gold watch, about an inch and a quarter in diameter. 

The face and back are edged with seed pearls. The dial is 
enamelled. The watch is of a vertical escape movement, and 
apparently in good working order. 

12. A gold, richly-chased buckle for a waistbelt, the ornamentation 

being in some parts enamelled in different colours. 

13. A porcelain scent bottle, with a gold top, the shape being a 

flattened sphere. It had a pattern of lines, enclosing small 
flowers and butterflies. There is still a slight odour about it. 

14. A small flat candlestick, with hexagonal tray, ornamented with 

gold and pictures of small shells. 

15. A small circular china stand. 

16. A summer dress of white muslin, covered with a line pattern 

and small flowers worked by hand in different coloured silks. 
In some places the colours are very bright, and in others 
faded. 

17. A white shawl, with fringe and deep border of a dark-coloured 

pattern. 

18. Two satin sachets, one probably used to carry a purse, of pointed 

shape and three-sided, cream-coloured, covered with flower 
pattern in gold thread, and the other, probably used for 
carrying a handkerchief, flat and oblong in shape, lined with 
cream-coloured satin; the outside has a ruby ground with 
stamped cornflower pattern in cream colour.^ 

Mrs. Fitzherbert gave these articles to her maid, who had 
been with her for many years, and to whom she also bequeathed 
an annuity. On her death the maid left these relics to her 
relative, the wife of a Mr. Rush, of Daventry. When Mrs. 
Rush died, her husband submitted them to the Mayor and 
Corporation of Brighton, in the hope that they would purchase 
them as relics of a lady who had done so much for Brighton. 
They were on view for some time at the Brighton Museum, 
and attracted considerable interest. But the Corporation de- 
clined to buy the relics, and they passed into the hands of a 
private collector, Mr. John Haines, a much respected townsman 
of Brighton. Through the courtesy of Mr. Haines, I am able 
to publish a few of them in this book. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert's house at Brighton, Steine House, was 
sold by public auction in January 1838. Her furniture, except 

1 Brighton Herald. 




MRS. FITZHERBERT'S HOUSE AT BRIGHTON 

[As it is to-day) 



RELICS OF MRS. FITZHERBERT 461 

for certain articles which Colonel and Mrs. Darner removed to 
6 Tilney Street (her London house), was also sold by auction 
a few days previously. Some of it still survives, scattered 
about in various houses in Brighton, but little of it could now 
be authenticated. In the case of the relics above mentioned, 
no such difficulty exists, and it is a pity that the Brighton 
Municipality allowed them, with their interesting associations, 
to pass out of their hands. In Mrs. Fitzherbert's old house 
on the Steine there is nothing to tell one that she once hved 
there; and in the Pavihon, where she once reigned almost as a 
queen, there is little to recall her memory except three or four 
cartoons, one of them so scurrilous that it ought not to be 
allowed to disfigure the walls. 



APPENDIX D 

AN APPRECIATION OF MRS. FITZHERBERT 

The following article in the Brighton Gazette, March 30, 
1837, written a few days after Mrs. Fitzherbert's death by one 
who knew her well, may be quoted : — 

"The late Mrs. Fitzherbert has occupied too extraordinary 
a place in the history of this country for her decease not to 
demand at our hands some tribute of respect and regard. 
Those of our readers who will look back to some of the events 
that marked, in a very peculiar manner, the beginning of the 
latter half of the reign of George III., will remember the very 
interesting and remarkable position she then occupied in this 
country. Having avoided by every means in her power the 
position that afterwards became her lot; united by the laws of 
her Church to one who for many years had sought her; placed 
on an eminence whence she could do more injury, public and 
private, than any one before her since the commencement of 
the last century; by the effect of her personal charms, and the 
simplicity and integrity of her character, finding herself at the 
head of society, she thus through a long life succeeded in 
winning the respect of all those who were, by the circumstances 
of her situation, brought into contact with her. And when we 
say this, we mean to say that we have reason to believe that, 
from nearly the first moment her name became conspicuous in 
the annals of this country, she enjoyed the esteem and expressed 
regard of the very highest Personages in it. The influence she 
possessed was always exercised for the honour of the Personage 
she was, by the forms of her Church, united to. His honour, 
that of the country, and his position in it, were, it is well known, 
the first objects of her anxiety. Through an existence pro- 
longed beyond the lot of most people, she made more real 
friends than almost any one we are acquainted with. Those 
friendships were cemented by a reliance on the integrity of her 

462 



AN APPRECIATION 463 

character, and led to unlimited confidence, which was ever 
observed by her with sacred inviolabihty. The honour, frank- 
ness, and straightforwardness of her disposition procured her 
the intimate acquaintance of some of the most eminent men of 
the time in which she Hved. Many of them are still alive, and 
can bear witness to the truth with which this portrait of her is 
drawn, and to the affectionate respect with which, to her latest 
breath, they have continued to regard her. In her more familiar 
circle she was generous, indulgent, and hospitable. She re- 
tained in advanced age the warmth, the enthusiasm, the fresh- 
ness and disinterested feelings of youth. Her piety was fervent 
and unostentatious. Her life was one of active benevolence. 
Her cheerfulness was very remarkable, and evidently the result 
of the pleasure she was herself afforded by making others 
happy. 

"Many are those who have been the objects of her gener- 
osity to a very unusual degree ; charity was never asked of her 
in vain. Very numerous are the persons who for years have 
existed on her support. To her more immediate attendants 
she was at once a friend and a benefactress. She has sunk 
into her grave full of years, having a firm reUance on the merits 
of her Saviour, lamented by all who had the happiness to know 
her, but deeply deplored by those who for many years have 
been the objects upon whom her tender solicitude was lavished, 
and will ever revere her memory. Her loss to the poor will be 
irreparable, and society in general will feel the void left by one 
who possessed, in an eminent degree, more of the finer qualities 
of our nature, and fewer of the imperfect, than any one to 
whom we can at present allude. We shall close this hasty and 
incomplete sketch of the character of this most exalted and 
excellent lady, by informing our readers that she was one of 
the first persons who attracted good company to Brighton, 
and to her undoubtedly were due many of the first advantages 
possessed by this town." 



APPENDIX E 

LIST OF AUTHORITIES 

UNPUBLISHED MSS. 

1. The Fitzherbert Papers, formerly at Coutts's Bank, now in the 

private archives at Windsor Castle. By gracious permission 
of His Majesty the King. 

2. Letters from the Duke of Kent, the Duke of York, and other 

members of the Royal Family to Mrs. Fitzherbert. By 
gracious permission of His Majesty the King. 

3. Memorandum written by the late Admiral Sir George Seymour, 

G.C.B., on the Education, by Mrs. Fitzherbert, of the Hon. 
Mrs. George Dawson Damer (nee Seymour). 

4. Extracts from the correspondence between Mrs. Fitzherbert 

and the late Hon. Mrs. George Dawson Damer (1820-34). 

5. Miscellaneous letters and documents duly specified in this book. 

PUBLISHED WORKS 

Memoirs of Mrs. Fitzherbert, with an Account of her Marriage with 
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, afterwards King George IV. By 
the Hon. Charles Langdale. 1856. 

Courts and Cabinets of George III. By the Duke of Buckingham. 

1853- 
Memoirs of the Life of the Right Hon. R. B. Sheridan. By Thomas 

Moore. 1825. 
Adolphus's History of George III. 1841. 
Life of Sir Gilbert ElUot, first Earl of Minto. 1874. 
Horace Walpole's Letters. Ed. 1857. 
Autobiography of Miss Cornelia Knight, late companion to H.R.H. 

the Princess Charlotte of Wales. 
The Diary of Lord Colchester. 
The Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical of the Church of 

England. By M. E. C. Wallcott. 
Parliamentary History, vol. xxvi. 
" " vol. xxvii. 

464 



LIST OF AUTHORITIES 465 

A Portion of the Journal kept by Thomas Raikes, Esq. 

The Historical and Posthumous Memoirs of Sir Nathaniel William 

Wraxall. 
Memoirs of the Whig Party during my Time. By Henry Richard, 

Lord Holland. 1854. 
Diaries and Correspondence of James Harris, First Earl of Malmes- 

bury. 1844. 
Memoirs of George IV. By Robert Huish. 
Grantley Berkeley's Recollections. 
Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore, Ed. by 

Lord John Russell. 1853. 
Diary illustrative of the Times of George IV. By the Lady Charlotte 

Bury. 
Hie et ilbique. By Sir William Eraser. 
Lord Brougham's Memoirs. 
Public General Acts, 12 George III. 

Memoirs of the Years 1788-89. By Elizabeth, Countess of Harcourt. 
The Harcourt Papers. 
Reminiscences of Henry Angelo. 
Lord Stanhope's Life of Pitt, vol. ii. 
The Rutland Papers. Historical MSS. Commission. 
The Fortescue MSS. 
The Carlisle MSS. 
The Lonsdale MSS. 
The Ailesbury MSS. 

The Creevey Papers. Edited by the Right Hon. Sir Herbert Maxwell. 
The Jerningham Letters. Edited by Egerton Castle. 
Fifty Years of my Life. By George Thomas, Earl of Albemarle. 

1876. 
Sir Henry Holland's Memoirs. 
Life of Sir Henry Halford. 
The Greville Memoirs. 
Sir William Knighton's Memoirs. 

Parliamentary Paper: House of Lords re the Seymour Case. 
Florizel's Folly. By John Ashton. 
The Croker Papers: Correspondence and Diaries of John Wilson 

Croker. Edited by Louis J. Jennings. 1884. 
Doran's Lives of the Queens of England. 
Life of George IV. By Percy Fitzgerald. 
The Journal of Mary Frampton, 1 780-1843. 
Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis, K.C.B., with correspondence and 

diaries. 
Life of Fox. By Lord John Russell. 
The Four Georges. By W. M. Thackeray. 



466 APPENDIX E 

A History of England in the Eighteenth Century. By W. E. Lecky. 

Memoirs of Mary Robinson ("Perdita"). 

Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Richard Hurd. 

A History of Tong and Boscobel. By George Griffiths. 

The Brighton Pavilion and its Royal Associations. By J. G. Bishop. 

The following Pamphlets : — 

A Letter to a Friend on the Reported Marriage of H.R.H. the Prince 
of Wales. By Home Tooke. 1787. 

A Review of the Conduct of the Prince of Wales, containing a detail 
of many circumstances relative to the Prince . . . Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, &c. By W. Jeffreys. [Eighth Edition], 1806. 

Letter of Nemesis to Alfred. Philip Wither. 1789. 

A Narrative of the daring measures to suppress a pamphlet entitled 
"Strictures; or the Declaration of Home Tooke respecting . . . 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, &c." By P. Wither. 1789. 

Recollections of Brighton in the Olden Time. By a Native thereof. 

A Short Account of the principal Seats and Gardens around Twick- 
enham. Circa, 1770. 

The following contemporary Reviews, Magazines, and 
Newspapers : — 

The Quarterly Review, The Edinburgh Review, The Dublin Review, 
The Dublin University Magazine, St. James's Magazine, Littell's 
Living Age, The European Magazine, Le Courier de I'Europe, 
The Times, The Morning Post, The Morning Herald, The 
Morning Chronicle, Notes and Queries, The Sussex Weekly 
Advertiser, The Brighton Herald, The Brighton Gazette, The 
Brighton Guardian, &c., &c. 



INDEX 



Acton Burnell, description of, i; 
Benedictine Mission established, 

20I. 

Adelaide, Queen, at Brighton, 398; 
Mrs. Fitzherbert presented to her, 
400; letter to Mrs. Fitzherbert, 401; 
introduces the German Christmas- 
tree, 404; kindness to Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, ib. 

Aix-la-Chapelle, Mrs. Fitzherbert goes 
to, 33; 425, 428. 

Albany, Countess of, 193. 

All emarle. Earl of, on the home life 
of the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
307; acts for Mrs. Fitzherbert about 
her correspondence, 419; letters to 
Lord Stourton, 420, 423; with the 
Duke of Wellington burns the Fitz- 
herbert papers, 422 ; his death, 
428. 

Amalia Princess, of Baden, 335. 

Amelia, Princess, her death, 318. 

Angelo, Henry, tells an anecdote, 188. 

Augusta, Sophia, Princess, letters to 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, 426, 433. 

Avranches, Archbishop of, 201. 

Barry, Augustus, an inveterate gam- 
bler, 184. 

Barry, Henry, Lord Barrymore, in- 
ventor of the "Tiger," 184. 

Barry, Richard, boon companion of 
the Prince of Wales, 184. 

Barrymore Family, 184; their prac- 
tical jokes, 187. 

Bathurst, Sir Frederick Hervey, Bart., 
431 w. 

Beaule, Marquise de, 201. 

Bedford, Duke of, 17; on Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, 442. 



Bellois, Marquis de, 46. 
Berkeley, Grantley and Mary Sey- 
mour, 308. 
Bloomfield, Lord, 297. 
Bouverie, Edvi^ard, 29. 
Brambridge, 5. 
Brandenburg House, Hammersmith, 

345. 351- 

Bridgeman, Orlando, account of, 68 w. 

Brighton, visited by the Prince of 
Wales, 115; Marine Pavilion, 116; 
in 1787, 150; Mrs. Fitzherbert 
wfarmly v^relcomed there, 152; gay 
doings of the Prince of Wales, 183; 
description of the Pavilion, 266; 
Steine House built, 267; its pros- 
perous state, 269; life at the Pa- 
vilion, 270; distinguished visitors, 
272; grand reviews, 310; public 
entry of William IV. and Queen 
Adelaide, 398; festivities at the 
Pavilion, 404; death of Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, 438; lies in state, 439; her 
funeral, 439; marble monument in 
St. John the Baptist's Church, 441. 

Brighton Gazette, article on Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, 462. 

Bristow, Mrs., 194. 

Brougham, Lord, on Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert's marriage with the Prince of 
Wales, 84; his great speech in de- 
fence of Queen Caroline, 348; at 
Brighton, 415 w. 

Browne, Mrs., letter from Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert on the Seymour Case, 296. 

Brummell, George Bryan (Beau 
Brummell), 272, 376. 

Buckingham, Marchioness of, 92. 

Buggin, Lady Cecilia, 437; marries 
the Duke of Sussex, 208 w. 



467 



INDEX 



Burke, Edmund, 109. 

Burt, Rev. Robert, marries the Prince 
of Wales and Mrs. Fitzherbert, 67; 
is rewarded for performing the 
marriage, 71 ; his letter to the Prince 
of Wales, ib.; his death, 73. 

Cambridge, Duke of, marries 
Augusta of Hesse-Casscl, 341. 

Carlisle, Lord, letter about Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, 305. 

Carlton House, 22, 108; a court of 
pleasure, 106; establishment re- 
duced, 112; shut up, 203. 

Caroline, Queen, wife of George IV. 
and Princess of Brunswick, chosen 
to be the wife of the Prince of 
Wales, 216; described by Lord 
Malmesbury, 222; arrives in Eng- 
land, 223; interview with the Prince 
at St. James's Palace, 224; married 
to the Prince, 226; unhappy mar- 
ried life, 229; birth of the Princess 
Charlotte, 232; separates from the 
Prince, 238; agrees to the Prince's 
terms for separation, ib.; and Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, 242; disliked by the 
Queen, 258; letter from the Duke 
of Kent, 259; not jealous of Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, 260; quarrels with the 
Prince concerning Princess Char- 
lotte, ib.; her unruly tongue, 301; 
commission appointed to inquire 
into her conduct, 302; King refuses 
to receive her, 303; "The Book" 
suppressed, 304; absolutely ac- 
quitted of all charges, ib.; her action 
as regards Mrs. Fitzherbert, 305; 
kind feeling for Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
327; a thorn in the side of the Re- 
gent, 330; leaves the country, 331; 
returns to England, 343; her popu- 
larity, 344; moves to Brandenburg 
House, Hammersmith, 345; her 
trial before the House of Lords 
commences, 347; the Bill with- 
drawn, 350; refused admittance 
to Westminster Abbey at the Coro- 
nation of the King, 351; her death, 
ib. 

Charlotte, Princess, christened, 238; 
quarrels concerning, 260; letter to 
her father, 262; and Mary Seymour, 
308; espouses the cause of her 



mother, 329; marries Prince Leo- 
pold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 331; 
death, ib. 
Charlotte, Queen, devoted to the 
Prince of Wales, 93; detests the 
Duchess of Cumberland, 108; in 
active opposition to the Prince of 
Wales, 166; her animosity to the 
Prince of Wales, 180; at the head 
of a faction, 182; reconciliation 
with the Prince, 191; dislikes the 
Princess of Wales, 258; her death, 

331- 

Chartres, Duke of, 21. 

Chifney, Sam, 204. 

Chudleigh, Elizabeth, Duchess of 
Kingston, 4. 

Clare, Lady, 187. 

Clarence, Duke of, buys Bushey Park, 
193; his great regard for Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, 254; marries Adelaide, 
Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Meinin- 
gen, 341; at Brighton, 378. 

Clermont, Lady, her friendship with 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, 98. 

Clifford, Dowager Lady de, 261. 

Conyngham, Lady, described 353; 
mistress of the King, ib.; vulgar 
and self-seeking, 355; at Brighton, 
357; seriously ill, 384; lays hands 
on jewellery, plate, &c., 385. 

Conyngham, Lord, made Lord Cham- 
berlain, 353. 

Craven, Hon. George Augustus, 431 n. 

Creevey, Thomas, at Brighton, 272; 
quoted, 273, 312. 

Creevey, Mrs., her letters from Brigh- 
ton, 276. 

Crewe, Mrs. 23. 

Crofts, Rev. Mr., 291. 

Croker, John Wilson, quoted, 340; 
on Mrs. Fitzherbert's marriage, 

367- 

Cumberland, Duchess of, 76; not re- 
ceived at Court, 96; detested by 
Queen Charlotte, 108; and London 
Society, 106; Horace Walpole on, 
107; sympathy for Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert, 147. 

Cumberland, Duke of, 21, 114; mar- 
ries Mrs. Horton, 76; immediate 
cause of the Royal Marriage Act, 
77; and the Regent, 329. 

Cumberland House, 107, 108. 



INDEX 



469 



Damer, Hon. Mrs. Dawson, see Sey- 
mour, Mary. 

Dawson, Colonel George, engaged 
to Miss Seymour, 359; marries her, 
360. 

Dawson, Mrs. George, see Seymour, 
Mary. 

Devonshire, Duchess of, 22; disliked 
by the King and Queen, 24; de- 
scribed, ib.; her friendship for Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, 98; sympathises with 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, 147; on the Whig 
side, 177. 

Devonshire, Duke of, visited by Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, 364. 

Devonshire House, 25. 

Dickie, Mr., of Coutts's Bank, 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's Papers reserved 
handed to him, 423. 

Digby, Lady, 4. 

Douglas Lady, and the Princess of 
Wales, 302. 

Douglas, Lord, and the Princess of 
Wales, 302. 

Dumourier, General, visits Brighton, 
272. 

Dundas, Henry, speech on the Re- 
gency Bill, 175. 

Dunmore, Earl of, 206. 

Durant, Madame, 4. 

Edward, Prince, 114. 

Eldon, Lord, and the Princess of 
Wales, 303. 

Errington, Henry, 12, 58; present at 
the marriage of his niece with the 
Prince of Wales, 67; looks after 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's interests, 219. 

Errington, John, 3. 

Errington, Mary, 3. 

Este, Sir Augustus d', 208 n. 

Euston, Countess of, affidavits in the 
Mary Seymour Case, 291. 

FiTZCLARENCE, GcoTge, and Mary 
Seymour, 308. 

Fitzclarences, the, 401 n. 

Fitzherbert, Basil, 15. 

Fitzherbert, Maria, eldest child of 
Walter Smythe, i; uncertainty as 
to her place of birth, 5; resides with 
her parents at Brambridge, near 
Winchester, ib.; a short pedigree. 



6 ».; educated at the English Con- 
vent, Paris, 7; returns to England, 
ib.; her beauty, 8; marries Mr. Ed- 
ward Weld, g; her portrait at Lul- 
worth, 10; death of her husband, 
ib.\ leaves Lul worth, 11; death of 
her father, 12; marries Thomas 
Fitzherbert of Swynnerton, ib.; her 
sister Frances becomes Lady Hag- 
gerston, 13; death of her husband, 
Thomas Fitzherbert, 14; resides 
in Paris, 15; and at Marble Hill, 
Twickenham, 16; returns to Park 
Street, Park Lane, ib.; refuses the 
Duke of Bedford, 17; meets the 
Prince of Wales, 25; his unwelcome 
importunities, 27; goes to Carlton 
Flouse with the Duchess of Devon- 
shire, 30; promises to become the 
Prince's wife, 31; her flight to the 
Continent, T,y, introduced to the 
Stadtholder, 34; leaves for Paris, 
35; the Marquis de Bellois offers 
marriage, 46; returns to London, 
50; her family favours the marriage 
with the Prince, 58; ceremony per- 
formed at Park Street, Park Lane, 
67; the certificate, 69; effect of the 
Royal Marriage Act of 1772, 82; 
legal views of the marriage, 83; 
Dublin Review on the marriage, 
86; declared by Rome to be the 
wife of the Prince of Wales, 89; 
Anglican view of the marriage, z&.; 
Horace Walpole on the marriage, 
93; not received at Court, 95; and 
the Queen, 94; the Prince's bearing 
to her in public, 97; Lady Sefton 
avoids her, ib.; friendship of the 
Duchess of Devonshire, 98; of Lady 
Clermont and the Marchioness of 
Salisbury, 99; good influence on the 
Prince, 100; money allowance made 
by the Prince, 102; with the Prince 
leads Society, 106; goes to Brighton, 
117; her marriage to the Prince de- 
nied in Parliament by Fox, 132; 
feels cruelly betrayed and degraded, 
140; her dislike of Fox, 141; of- 
fended with the Prince, ib.; recon- 
ciled to him, 147; sympathy of 
her friends, ib.; letter from the 
Duke of Gloucester, 148; goes to 
Brighton with the Prince, 150; re- 



470 



INDEX 



ceives a warm welcome, 152; intro- 
duced to the Duke of York there, 
155; annoyed by Lord George Gor- 
don, 157; her estabhshment in Pall 
Mall, 158; her part in the matter of 
the Regency, 168; Fox attempts to 
make his peace with her, ib.; refuses 
to be created a Duchess, 170; her 
marriage with the Prince of Wales 
denied the second time in Parlia- 
ment, 177; her action in the struggle 
for the Regency, 178; with the 
Prince at Brighton, 183; her broth- 
ers Jack and Watt, 185 ; her troubles 
and anxieties, 189; served with a 
writ for debt, ib.; her efforts to 
reconcile the King and Prince, 191; 
friendly attitude of the King and 
Queen to her, 192; attitude of the 
Duchess of York to her, 197; en- 
dows a Roman Catholic mission at 
Brambridge, 198; kindness to nuns 
expelled from France, 200; and the 
Duchesse de Noailles, 201; in- 
fluence over the Prince, 202; her 
quarrels with him, 205 ; rupture with 
the Prince caused by Lady Jersey, 
214; leaves for the Continent, 215; 
returns to Richmond, 218; the 
Prince's intended marriage a crush- 
ing blow, ib.; the annuity of ;^30oo 
continued, 219; kindness of the 
King and Queen, 220; lives in re- 
tirement after the marriage of the 
Prince to Princess Caroline, 228; 
her residence in Tilney Street, Park 
Lane, ib.; the will of the Prince 
drawn in her favour, 233; overtures 
from the Prince, 241; meets him 
at Kempshott, 245; the Pope pro- 
nounces her the wife of the Prince 
246; in public with the Prince, 247 
formally reconciled to him, 248 
round of visits together, ib.; her 
mistake in returning to the Prince, 
252; happy years, 25^; the Prince's 
devotion to her, ib.; friendship 
with the Prince's brothers, 254; 
takes East End House, Parson's 
Green, 256; acts as peacemaker, 
258; nurses the Prince in the Pa- 
vilion, Brighton, 263; happy hours 
at Brighton, 265; builds Steine 
House, 267; described, ib.; re- 



gards Brighton as a home, 269; 
letter on the death of Nelson, 279; 
letters from Lady Horatia Sey- 
mour, 281, 282; Mary Seymour 
committed to her charge, 282; ten- 
der care of the child, 283; refuses 
to give her up, 285; Bill in the 
Court of Chancery, ib.; her affi- 
davit, 286; has the ultimate custody 
of the child, 295; letter expressing 
her happiness on having Mary Sey- 
mour again, 296; goes to Brighton, 
297; and the "No Popery" party, 
298; popular feeling against her, 
299; Jeffries the jeweller's hatred, 
ib.; public opinion against her, 
304; mutilates her marriage certifi- 
cate, 305; on friendly terms with 
the King and Queen, 306; devoted 
to Mary Seymour, ib.; relation- 
ship with the Prince becomes 
strained, 311; humiliated by the 
Marchioness of Hertford, 313; 
pathetic appeal to the Prince, 314; 
her place usurped by Lady Hert- 
ford, 315; virtually separated, 317; 
sent for by the Prince on the eve of 
the Regency, 319; refuses to attend 
the fete at Carlton House given by 
the Prince, 324; formal separation 
agreed upon, ib.; her pension, 326; 
lives in retirement, 331, 333; her 
kindness to Miss Seymour, 332; 
buys Sherwood Lodge, Battersea, 
333; letter from the Duke of Kent 
on his doings on the Continent, 
333; in Paris with Miss Seymour, 
338; stays there during the trial of 
the Queen, 346; returns to Brighton, 
350; letters to Miss Seymour, 357; 
358, 361, 363, 364, 368, 369. 373. 
374, 383, 385, 395, 398, 400, 402, 
408, 409, 412, 413, 416, 419, 429; 
sells Sherwood Lodge, 359; death 
of her best friend, the Duke of 
York, 372; gives a Fancy Dress 
Ball in Brighton, 377; interested in 
Roman Catholic Emancipation, 
381; letter from Sir Henry Halford 
on the King's illness, 387; her letter 
to the King, 388; her miniature 
round the King's neck when buried, 
392; the King's death affects her 
pecuniarily, 394; William IV.'s order 



INDEX 



471 



for the payment of her annuity, 
397; visited by William IV. at 
Brighton, 399; dines with him at 
the Pavilion, 400; letter from the 
Queen, 401; attends a Ball at the 
Pavilion, 404; her opinion of the 
Reform Bill, 407; her correspond- 
ence with George IV. burnt by the 
Duke of Wellington and Lord 
Albemarle, 422; her papers and 
documents reserved, lodged at 
Coutts's Bank, 421, 423; goes to 
Aix-la-Chapelle, 425; letter to 
Mdlle. Nisot, 427; returns froni the 
Continent, 431; dines several times 
with the King and Queen, 433;. ^t 
Brighton, 434; dines with the King 
and Queen at the Pavilion for the 
last time, 436; seriously ill, 437; 
receives the last rites of the Church, 
438; her death, ib.; In Memoriam, 
439-443; body "lies in state," 439; 
buried at Brighton, ib.; her monu- 
ment in the Church of St. John the 
Baptist, 441; pubhc grief, 442; her 
papers, 444-451; left undisturbed 
at Coutts's Bank, 446; correspond- 
ence between Mr. Keppel and Mr. 
Langdale, 449; Edward VII. grants 
permission for the author to see the 
papers, 451; now deposited at 
Windsor Castle, ib.; her will, 452- 
461; some relics at Brighton, 459; 
an appreciation, 462. 
Fitzherbert, Thomas, 12; dies at Nice, 

14. 
Fitzherbert Family, short pedigree 

of, 15 n. 
Flahaut, Countess de, 346. 
Fox, Charles James, friendship with 
the Prince of Wales, 21; elected for 
Westminster, 23; his career, ib.; 
letter to the Prince of Wales, 51; 
reply from the Prince, 56; on the 
Prince of Wales' income, 103; and 
the Prince's marriage, 121; in the 
debate in Parliament on the Prince's 
debts, 123; denies the marriage in 
Parliament, 131; attitude as re- 
gards the Prince's marriage, 137; 
recalled from abroad by the Prince 
of Wales, 163. 
Frampton, Mary, 159. 



France, refugees from, 201; war with, 

256. 
Francis, Sir Philip, no. 
Frederica Charlotte Ulrica, Princess 

Royal of Prussia, 195; described, 

196. 
French Revolution, 200. 

Gardner, Colonel, 60. 

George III., his parsimonious court, 
18; his hatred of Fox, 21; insub- 
ordination of the Prince of Wales, 
23; their quarrels, 38; incensed at 
the marriage of the Duke of Glou- 
cester, 77; his brothers' marriages, 
ib.; and the Royal . Marriage Act, 
78; and the relations between the 
Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert, 93; 
refuses to pay the Prince's debts, 
112; harsh and despotic, 114; at- 
tempt on his life, 118; alarming 
illness and mental derangement, 
159; dissensions in the royal family, 
166; recovery to health and reason, 
179; reconciled to the Prince of 
Wales, 191; popularity, 211; guar- 
antees Mrs. Fitzherbert's pension, 
219; his relations with Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, 254; seriously ill, 256; takes 
the education of the Princess Char- 
lotte into his own hands, 260; recon- 
ciliation with the Prince, 264; ap- 
points a commission to inquire into 
the conduct of the Princess of 
Wales, 302; refuses to receive her, 
303; becomes hopelessly insane, 
318; his death, 342. 
George IV., leader of fashion when 
Prince of Wales, 18; person and 
manners described, 19; his connec- 
tion with the Whigs, 21; estabHsh- 
ment at Carlton House, 22; incurs 
the displeasure of George III., 23; 
under the influence of the Duchess 
of Devonshire, 25; meets Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, 26; his passionate pursuit, 
ib.; stalDS himself, 30; promises to 
marry her, 31; distracted by her 
flight, 36; corresponds with her, 37; 
sends for Sir James Harris, 39, 42; 
opposition of Fox to his proposed 
marriage, 51 ; his letter to the Prince, 
ib.; letter from the Prince, 56; mar- 

I riage with Mrs. Fitzherbert at Park 



472 



INDEX 



Street, Park Lane, 67; writes out 
the certificate of marriage, 68; his 
letter on his marriage, 69; effect of 
the Royal Marriage Act of 1772, 
82; legal views on his marriage, 83; 
his marriage declared legal by 
Rome, 89; Anglican view of the 
marriage, ib.; interview with the 
Queen, 94; his bearing in public to 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, 97; his monetary 
difi&culties, loi; the question of his 
income raised in the House of Com- 
mons, 103; with Mrs. Fitzherbert 
leads society, 106; his distinguished 
friends, 109; appeal to the King 
refused in his money difficulties, 
112; establishment at Carlton House 
reduced, 113; the King ridicules 
the plan of economy, 114; the 
Prince goes to Brighton, 115; re- 
fusal of the King to see him at 
Windsor, 119; hard pressed for 
money, 120; the question of his 
debts before Parliament, 122; Fox's 
denial of the marriage in Parlia- 
ment, 137; letter to Fox, 139; his 
debts settled, 145; reconciled to his 
parents, ib.; the Press on his mar- 
riage with Mrs. Fitzherbert, 149; 
goes to Brighton, 150; his healthy 
habits, ib.; kindness to his servants, 
152; goes to Windsor to meet his 
brother the Duke of York, 155; 
showers gifts on Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
158; goes to Windsor and is as- 
saulted by the King, 160; in a posi- 
tion of responsibility, 161; a coun- 
cil of his friends held at Bagshot, 
162; reconciliation with the Duke 
of Portland, 164; disputes about 
the Regency, ib.; accepts the Re- 
gency, 167; struggle for place and 
power among his followers, 178; 
congratulates the King on his re- 
covery, 179; hopes of the Regency 
at an end, ib.; complains bitterly 
of his mother, 182; excesses at 
Brighton, 183; attends Lewes Races 
in semi-state, 187; gay doings at 
Brighton, 188; at open war with the 
Court, 190; formally reconciled to 
the King, 191; kindness to nuns 
expelled from France, 200; leads a 
secluded life, 203; hunts in Hamp- 



shire, ib.; his training stables at 
Newmarket, 204; his amours, 205; 
his quarrels with Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
ib.; his affairs in a desperate con- 
dition, 210; applies for help to the 
King in vain, 211; falls under the 
wiles of Lady Jersey, 212; his re- 
ception of the Princess Caroline at 
St. James's Palace, 224; his mar- 
riage to the Princess Caroline, 226; 
popular rejoicings, 227; differences 
between him and the Princess of 
Wales, 229; the question of his 
debts again before Parliament, 231; 
birth of the Princess Charlotte, 
232; his serious illness, ib.; his 
will, 233; letter to the Princess of 
Wales, 238; their separation, ib.; 
makes overtures to Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert, 241; meets her at Kempshott, 
245; letter to her, 246; appear to- 
gether in public, 247; formally 
reconciled, ib.; round of visits to- 
gether, 248; visits the Duchess of 
Rutland, ib.; his connection with 
Lady Jersey broken off, 250; de- 
voted to Mrs. Fitzherbert, 253; 
incurs the anger of the King for 
publishing his letters, 257; treats 
the Princess Charlotte harshly, 
261; illness at Brighton, 263; recon- 
ciliation with the King, 264; en- 
larges the Pavilion, 266; life at the 
Pavilion, 270; arbiter of fashion, 
271; affected by the death of Nel- 
son, 278; celebrates the victory of 
Trafalgar, 279; estrangement be- 
tween him and Lord Hugh Sey- 
mour, 281; affidavit in the Case of 
Mary Seymour, 288; hospitality at 
the Pavilion, 297; disagreement with 
the Princess of Wales, 301; home 
life described by the Earl of Albe- 
marle, 307; celebration of his birth- 
days at Brighton, 309; grand re- 
views, 310; intimacy with the 
Alarchioness of Hertford, 311; 
pathetic appeal from Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, 314; virtually separated, 
317; he becomes more and more 
unpopular, ib.; sends for Mrs. 
Fitzherbert on the eve of the Re- 
gency, 319; becomes Regent, 321; 
gives a fete at Carlton House, 322; 



INDEX 



473 



formal separation from Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert agreed upon, 325; the Re- 
gency, 328-342; nearly always un- 
well, 329; defied by the Princess 
Charlotte, ih.; ■ his hatred of the 
Princess of Wales, 330; kindness 
to Miss Seymour, 339; accession 
to the throne, 343; intends to di- 
vorce the Queen, ih.; the trial 
before the House of Lords com- 
mences, 347; the Bill withdrawn, 
350; his coronation at Westminster 
Abbey, 351; goes to Ireland, ih.; 
visits Hanover, 352; gets rid of 
Lady Hertford, 353; Lady Conyng- 
ham his new favourite, ih.; makes 
her "Lady Steward," ih.; at 
Brighton with Lady Conyngham, 
357; leaves Brighton for the last 
time, 373; the Roman Catholic Re- 
lief Bill his last Act, 382; gradually 
sinking, 383; receives a letter from 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, 388; his death, 
390; his miniature bequeathed by 
Mrs. Fitzherbert to Mrs. Damer, 
393; his statue at Brighton, 399. 
George, Prince of Wales, see George 

IV. 
Gillray, James, cartoons on the Fitz- 
herbert marriage, 104. 
Gloucester, Duchess of, not received 

at court, 96. 
Gloucester, Duke of, and Lady 
Waldegrave, 28; informs the King 
of his marriage with her, 75; his 
children, 76; at Florence, 114; letter 
to Mrs. Fitzherbert, 148. 
Gordon, Duchess of, sympathy for 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, 147; reprimands 
Admiral Payne, 166; on the Tory 
side, 177. 
Gordon, Lord George, and Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, 157; letter to WilUam 
Pitt, ih. 
Greville, C. C. F., on Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert, 443- 
Grey, Countess, on Miss Seymour, 

333. 
Grey, Earl, no; takes office, 407. 
Gunn, Martha, the bathing-woman 

of Brighton, 151. 
Gurwood, Colonel John, 366, 395; 
executor to Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
441 n. 



Haggerston, Lady, 13. 

Hague, The, 33. 

Halford, Sir Henry, another illness 
of the Duke of York, 370; an able 
and upright man, 384; letter on the 
King's illness, 387; tells Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert of the King's last moments, 
391; attends Mrs. Fitzherbert in 
her illness, 437. 

Hanger, Col. George, afterwards 
Lord Coleraine, 185. 

Harcourt, Lady, quoted, 192, 205. 

Harcourt, Lord, letters on Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, 168, 172. 

Harris, Sir James, 35; and the Prince 
of Wales, 39; attempts to reconcile 
the King and Prince, 41. 

Hastings, Warren, at Brighton^ 272. 

Hatton Hill Farm, 5. 

Hertford, Lord, Mary Seymour's 
paternal uncle, 295; holds high 
posts at court, 328. 

Hertford, Marchioness of, described, 
311; rules the Prince absolutely, 
312; the dame regnante of the Re- 
gency, 328; separates from the 
King, 353. 

Hobart, Mrs., her fete near Fulham, 
193. 

Holland, Sir Henry, quoted, 338. 

Holland, Lord, on the marriage be- 
tween Mrs. Fitzherbert and the 
Prince of Wales, 448. 

Holstein, Prince of, 333. 

Horton, Mrs., see Cumberland, 
Duchess of. 

Howe, Lord, Queen's Chamberlain, 
dismissed, 413, 414. 

Jeffries the jeweller, hatred of Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, 299; imprisoned for 
debt, 300; his pamphlet, 305. 

Jerningham, Edward, and Lady 
Jersey, 240. 

Jerningham, Captain Edward Staf- 
ford, engaged to Mary Smythe, 
376; marriage, ih. 

Jerningham, Lady, on Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert's marriage, 98; letter from, 
247; on the Prince's hospitality at 
the Pavilion, 297; on Mary Sey- 
mour, 308. 

Jersey, Frances, Countess of, 212; 
her liaison with the Prince of Wales, 



474 



INDEX 



213; brings about a rupture with 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, 214; no longer 
lady-in-waiting to the Princess, 
230; poisons the mind of the Prince 
against the Princess, ib.; the Prince 
tired of her, 240; and the Prince of 
Wales, 250; universally hated, 251. 

Johnes Knight, Rev., see Knight, 
Rev. Johnes. 

Jordan, Mrs., 193. 

Keate, Surgeon, 29. 

Kempshott, Prince of Wales at, 203. 

Kendal, Duchess of, 170. 

Kent, Duke of, and Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert, 255; letters to Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert, 259, 263; letter on the result 
oflthe Mary Seymour Case, 295; 
letters to Mrs. Fitzherbert, 306, 
316, 334; on the Continent, 334; 
marries Victoria Mary Louisa of 
Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg, 341 ; letter 
to Mrs. Fitzherbert, 342; his death, 
ib. 

Keppel, Rev. and Hon. E. S., and the 
Fitzherbert papers, 448. 

Keppel, General William, 291. 

Knight, Rev. Johnes, 60; letter to his 
daughter. Lady Shelley, 61. 

Knighton, Sir William, attempts to 
get possession of Mrs. Fitzherbert' s 
papers, 371; one of the executors 
of George IV., 394. 

Lade, Sir John, the celebrated Whip, 
186. 

Lade, Lady, the Amazonian Letitia, 
186. 

Langdale, Hon. Charles, quoted, 28, 
3o> 3i> 34, 38, 46, 48, 55- 67, 69, 73, 
86, 129, 140, 141, 215, 220, 229, 
233> 25s, 262, 314, 320, 325, 326, 
372, 391, 395, 422, 424, 444; on the 
validity of the marriage between 
Mrs. Fitzherbert and the Prince of 
Wales, 86; applies at Coutts's to 
see the Fitzherbert Papers, 448; 
his "Memoirs of Mrs. Fitzherbert," 

45°- 
Lee, Mary, i. 
Lee, Sir Richard, Bart., i. 
Lenox, Colonel, fights a duel vnth the 

Duke of York, 181. 



Leopold, Prince of Saxe-Coburg- 

Gotha, 331. 
Lothian, Marquis of, opinion of the 

Prince of Wales' marriage with 

Mrs. Fitzherbert, 100. 
Loughborough, Baron, 161, 162; and 

Mrs. Fitzherbert's annuity, 320. 
Lul worth Castle, 9. 
Luttrell, Lady Elizabeth, 108. 

McCarthy, Felix, the "Irish Giant," 
185. 

Malmesbury, Lord, mission to Bruns- 
wick, 218, 222; his opinion of the 
Princess Caroline, ib.; brings her 
to England, 223. 

Manvers, Lady, describes Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, 428. 

Marble Hill, description of, 16. 

Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Louise, Prin- 
cess of, 216. 

Melfort, Lady, nicknamed "Billings- 
gate," 184. 

"Ministry of all the Talents," 304. 

Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, 4. 

Munster, Lord, his account of the 
Coronation of William IV., 410; 
on Mrs. Fitzherbert, 443. 

Murray, Lady Augusta, 206; mar- 
riage annulled, 207; assumes the 
title of Comtesse d'Ameland, 208; 
her lineage, 209. 

Nassau, Rev. William, mission to 
Rome, 246. 

Nelson, Lord, letter from Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert on his death, 278. 

Newmarket, Prince of Wales's train- 
ing stables, 204. 

Newnham, Alderman, brings the 
question of the Prince's debts be- 
fore Parliament, 122. 

Nicholas, Grand-Duke, of Russia at 
the Pavilion, 339. 

Nicholson, Mary, attempts to stab 
the King, 118. 

Nisot, Mdlle., and Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
427. 

Noailles, Duchesse de, and Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, 202. 

"No Popery" Riots, 14. 

Norfolk, Duke of, a drunkard and 
glutton, 186; at Brighton, 274. 

North, Lord, no. 



INDEX 



475 



"Old Q.," i86. 
Onslow, Lord, 29. 

Orde, Thomas, on the Prince's mar- 
riage, 103. 
Orleans, Duke of, at Brighton, 186. 

Payne, Admiral, 162. 

Perceval, Mr., and the Princess of 
Wales, 303. 

Pigot, Miss, companion to Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, 158; mentioned in the 
Prince of Wales's will, 234. 

Pigott, Sir Arthur, on Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert's marriage with the Prince of 
Wales, 83. 

Pitt, William, in the debate in Par- 
liament on the Prince's debts, 122. 

Portland, Duchess of, sympathises 
with Mrs. Fitzherbert, 147. 

Portland, Duke of, reconciliation 
with the Prince of Wales, 164. 

Prince Charming, see George IV. 

QuEENSBERRY, Duke of, i86. 

Raikes, Thomas, quoted, 188. 

Reform Bill, 407-417. 

Regency, struggle for the, 1 61-179; 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's action, 178; 
Prince of Wales takes the oaths as 
Regent, 321; as Regent, 326-342. 

Regency Bill introduced to Parlia- 
ment, 167; in Committee, 172; 
public passion and excitement, 
177. 

Robinson, Perdita, 21. 

RoUe, John, 124; and the Regency 
Bill, 172. 

Roman Catholic Emancipation, Re- 
lief Act of 1778, 14; further measure 
of relief, 198; again brought for- 
ward, 321; passes into law, 380. 

Romilly, Sir Samuel, 285; in the Case 
of Mary Seymour, ib. 

Rosenhagen, Rev. Philip, 60. 

Rouen, Dean of, 201. 

Royal Marriage Act of 1772, 59, 73; 
opposed in Parliament, 79; receives 
the royal assent, ib.; powers, 80; 
unpopular, 82. 

Rutland, Duchess of, at Brighton, 
154, 187; her death, 369. 

Rycroft, Sir Henry, 245. 



Salisbury, Lady, friendship with 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, 99. 

Saunders, William, his account of 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, 434. 

Sefton, Lady, 16, 26; her sympathy 
for Mrs. Fitzherbert, 147. 

Seymour, Sir George Francis, 359; 
letter on Mrs. Fitzherbert, 332. 

Seymour, Lord Henry, his action 
about Mary Seymour, 284. 

Seymour, Lady Horatia, 280; letters 
to Mrs. Fitzherbert, 281, 282; dies 
at Bristol, 283. 

Seymour, Lord Hugh, 280; dies in 
Jamaica, 284. 

Seymour, Mary (Mrs. Dawson Da- 
mer), daughter of Lord Hugh Sey- 
mour, committed to the care of 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, 282; her father's 
executors wish to take her away, 
284; Mrs. Fitzherbert refuses to 
give her up, 285; in the Court of 
Chancery, ib.; affidavits, 286; case 
goes to a higher court, 293; appeal 
to the House of Lords, 294; Lord 
and Lady Hertford appointed her 
guardians, 295; Lord Thurlow's 
interest in the case, 296; with Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, at Brighton 297; be- 
loved by Mrs. Fitzherbert, 307; her 
playfellows, ib.; letter from Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, 309; an attractive and 
striking girl, 332; in Paris with 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, 338, 339; treated 
kindly by the Regent, 339; returns 
to Brighton, 340; engaged to 
Colonel George Dawson, 359; her 
marriage, 360; visits Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert with her husband and family, 
404; her monument in memory of 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, 441. 

Shergold, Mr., his account of Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, 153. 

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 109, 272; 
in the debate in Parliament on the 
Prince's debts, 125; his explana- 
tion in Parliament throws doubt 
on Fox's denial of the Prince's mar- 
riage, 144; confidential agent of the 
Prince of Wales, 162. 

Sherwood Lodge, Battersea, 333. 

Shifnal, 4. 

Smoker the sailor, and the Prince of 
Wales, 150. 



2SG 11^ 



476 



INDEX 



Smythe, Sir Edward, Bart., i 

Smythe, John, present at hi^ sister's 
marriage to the Prince of Wales, 67. 

Smythe, Sir John, Bart., i. 

Smythe, Mary, 36c; engaged to Cap- 
tain Edward Stafford Jerningham, 
376; marriage, 377. 

Smythe, Mary Anne, see Fitzherbert, 
Maria. 

Smythe, Walter, father of Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, i; his career, 2; his mar- 
riage, 3; at Tong Castle, 4; resides 
at Brambridge, 5; his children, 6 n.; 
his death, 12. 

Smythe family, 2; their alliances with 
great families, ih. 

Southampton, Lord, 29. 

Stadtholder, the, and Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert, 34. 

Stanley, Sir Thomas, 364. 

Stourton, Lord, 31; quoted, 140, 229, 
314, 319, 352, 371; acts for Mrs. 
Fitzherbert about her correspond- 
ence, 420; letters to the Earl of 
Albemarle, 422, 424; letter from 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, 425; and Mrs. 
Fitzherbert, 445; commits his trust 
to his brother, Charles Langdale, 
448; his death, ih. 

Stuart, Lady Louisa, on Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, 442. 

Sumner, Charles Richard, Bishop of 
Winchester, 376. 

Sussex, Duke of, and his marriage to 
the daughter of the Earl of Dun- 
more, 206; annulled, 207; marries 
Lady Cecilia Buggin, 208 n.; on 
Mrs. Fitzherbert's death, 442. 

Taylor, Sir Herbert, 371. 

Thackeray, William Makepeace, 
quoted 109 n., 274; on George 
IV., 236 n. 

Thomas, Colonel, Comptroller of 
the Princess of Wales's household, 
258. 

Thurlow, Lord Chancellor, 161, 272; 
tries to reconcile the King and 
Prince, 190, interest in the Mary 
Seymour Case, 295; and Lady 
Douglas's statement, 301. 

Tong Castle, 3. 

Tooke, Home, on the Prince's mar- 
riage, 121. 



Veeulam, Dowager Lady, 338. 
Victoria, Queen, her birth, 342; de- 
scribed, 436; ascends the throne, 443. 

Waldegrave, Lady, her children, 
75; her marriage to the Duke of 
Gloucester, 75; and Mary Sey- 
mour, 284, 296. 

Walfes, George Prince of, see George IV. 

Walpole, Horace, on the marriage 
between Mrs. Fitzherbert and the 
Prince of Wales, 93; on the Duchess 
of Cumberland, 107. 

Weld, Edward, marries Miss Smythe, 
9; his death, 10; 

Weld, Thomas, 11. 

Weld family, short pedigree of, 11. 

Wellington, Duke of, 384; and Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's miniature, 393; one 
of George IV. 's executors, 394; 
letter to Mrs. Fitzherbert, 396; and 
the correspondence between George 
IV. and Mrs. Fitzherbert, 419- 
424; and the Fitzherbert Papers, 
445; his death, 448. 

William, Prince, 113. 

William IV. and Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
392; consideration for her, 394; 
at Brighton, 398; visits Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert at Brighton, 399; kindness 
to Mrs. Fitzherbert, 400; his atti- 
tude as regards the marriage be- 
tween Mrs. Fitzherbert and George 
IV., 405; crowned, 409; his death, 

443- 
Willis, Dr., 256. 
Winchester, Bishop of, affidavit in 

the Mary Seymour Case, 290. 

Yarmouth, Lord, at court, 328. 

York, Duke of, 113; described, 155; 
meets Mrs. Fitzherbert at Brighton, 
ib.; fights a duel with Colonel 
Lenox, 181; hopelessly in debt, 
195; marries the Prince Royal of 
Prussia, 196; marriage an unhappy 
one, 197; Mrs. Fitzherbert's best 
friend, 254; misunderstanding with 
the Prince of Wales, 257; and Mrs. 
Clarke, 317; letter to Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert, 318; seldom at court, 329; 
letter to Mrs. Fitzherbert, 333; his 
illness, 369; his death, 372; his 
character, ih. 






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